Players from 14 different nations (including Latvia, Lithuania, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Switzerland ,Germany ,Malta , Italy, Czech Republic, United States, Jamaica, Tanzania,) came to compete in the first ever TE U12 staged in the UK held at Halton Tennis Centre HPC.
The qualifying rounds were played at Halton Tennis Centre and Aston Park Tennis Club who generously supported the event by allowing us to use the facility for the qualifying matches and the 1st round of main draw matches. The qualifying event was predominantly all British affair with all but 1 player (Marco Franzini from Italy) coming through to qualify for main draw.
Halton Tennis Centre (HPC) had a large contingent of players (8.....5 girls & 3 boys) participating in the event with 4 players making it through the 1st round. Unfortunately for some the draw produced a few “derby matches” with Scarlett Hutchinson coming a tough 3 set match 6-0 6-7 (5) 6-1 against Mineli Cooray.
Lauren Armstrong came through against fellow EBI & Halton player Indu Ragunather 6-0 6-2. Erika Dodridge (Halton) beat Dorset player Erin Richardson 6-4 7-5
Whilst in the boys Halton’s Daniel Dean had a good scalp beating Ben Brewster 6-2 3-1 retired.
The semi finals were primarily all British confrontations (with the exception of Mandi Furaji from Tanzania) both in the boys and girls single events. The results were as follows:
Girls Semi Finals
Lauren Armstrong (Halton ) beat Erika Dodridge (Halton) 6-1 6-1 (proving to be too strong an opponent for upcoming Erika).
Victoria Allen (Derbyshire) beat Mandi Furaji (Tanzania) 6-3 6-1 with a consistent display of counter attacking against an aggressive, all round opponent.
Boys Semi Finals
Rittik Anand (Essex) beat Benjamin Heynold (Surrey) 6-3 6-1 (great long rallies ever point was well worked for).
George Loffhagen (Middlesex) beat Charley Gregory 7-5 6-2 (after a dogged 1st set, Charley succumbed to Georges’ consistency).
The Boys Doubles Final was won by the Essex pair of Alex Groves & Rittik Anand beating Oscar Weightman (Middlesex) & Michael Mhangami (Surrey) 7-6 (3) 6-3 in very competitive match with plenty of skill used around the net.
The Girls Doubles Final was taken by the Anglo- Lithuanian pair of Gemma Heath & Andre Lukosiute 6-4 6-3 beating the British pair Tanysha Dissanayake & Elisa Van Meeteren.
The Girls final was won by home favourite Lauren Armstrong (Halton) beating Victoria Allen 4-6 6-0 6-2. After a nervous start Lauren upped her game by taking time away her opponent with a series of winners from the net and drive volleys.
The Boys Final was won convincingly by George Loffhagen beating a spirited Rittik Anand 6-0 6-0.
Finally a mention goes to Fred Olivier Schommer of Germany for winning the Babolat Challenge and collecting a signed Aero Pro Drive by Rafael Nadal! He could not contain his excitement!