Junior County Closed Success

The annual Bedfordshire Junior County Closed  took place at Riverside Tennis Club during the week of 24 to 29 August and proved to be a great success with some exciting matches, show casing young talent across the whole of Bedfordshire.

The week started with the Mini Tennis events and saw some excellent matches with some exceptional talent on display. Harriet Potter and Alex Hildreth faced each other both in the Mini Red and Mini Orange finals, with both girls putting up great performances in each final and winning one title each. Bilal Malik won the Boys Mini Red final putting up a solid performance throughout the whole competition while his brother Hamza also had success by winning the Mini Green event.

In the main draw, Jordan Gazzard and Joshua Sapwell played each other in both the 16 & Under and 18 & Under Boys finals. Joshua, who is only 13, played exceptionally well to be so dominant in both categories despite being considerably younger than his opponents. He beat Jordan 7-5 6-2 in the 16 & Under final. However, Jordan managed to get revenge in the 18 & Under final and came through 6-4 6-1 in a gutsy display of shot making after his earlier disappointment. 

Another great performance came from Sharna McNally who made a clean sweep in four finals. This included wins in both the 18 & Under and 21& Under Girls singles. Helen Knight had a strong week by winning the 12 & Under event and coming runner up in the 14 & Under Girls singles after a terrific 3 set final against Sarah Morse. Helen’s sister Rosie also appeared in a final but lost to Myrah Ahmed in the 16 & Under Girls singles.

Harry Mabbitt also had a good week after defeating Alex Ciuro in the 14 & Under Boys singles and also winning the 14 & Under Boys doubles with Lewis English. Finally Fraser Cummings defeated Devon Moore in the final of the Men’s 21 & Under singles and came runner up in 18 & Under Boys doubles after he and his partner Sam Haysom were defeated by Shaun and Wesley Nottingham.

The trophies were presented by Riverside Club Chairman Doug Cummings and Tournament Referee Neil Frankel who thanked all those involved and said “We have seen some remarkable talent on show throughout the week. The event gives local players an opportunity to be crowned  County Champions and offers up and coming players a chance to show case their talent".