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Cambridgeshire’s 10 and under girls team of Kira Reuter, Aisha Brown, Ellie Coleman and Molly McDonald played extremely well to finish fifth in the Aegon National Finals and had the draw been kinder to them they would surely have finished higher.
Initially the competition is played in eight groups around the Country and then the winners of each group go through to the National Finals. Cambridgeshire were joined in the finals by Surrey, Middlesex, Lancashire, West of Scotland, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Staffordshire.
Each match consists of three singles and a doubles and then if the match score is tied at 2 matches all a doubles tie break shoot out to 10 is played which adds to the excitement! Matches are the best of three short sets with the third set a match tie-break to 10 and there is also sudden death deuce!
Having travelled to Bolton on the Friday the girls were up against very tough opposition in the home County of Lancashire in the first match on Saturday. First up was the Cambridgeshire number one player Kira Reuter who played a very strong match against an opponent she had previously lost to Holly Clark. Kira lost the first set 2-4 but then stormed back to take the second 4-1 and then played a very good tiebreak to win 10-6. Next up was Aisha Brown who took on a very strong and powerful opponent Zarah Mughal who had a little too much weight of shot for Aisha and won 4-2, 4-2. Ellie Coleman played at number three against Eleanor Peet and won the first set 4-1, but her opponent fought hard to take the seconds set 5-4 and then beat Ellie 10-5 in the match tie break. This meant Cambridgeshire were 2 matches to 1 down with the doubles to play. Kira and Aisha played in the doubles and dropped the first set 0-4 (things did not look good!) but they changed their tactics and stormed back to take the second 4-2 and then took the match tie break 10 -7! The match then went into a doubles tiebreak shoot out with Reuter and Brown taking on Clark and Mughal. Cambs went 4 -1 down, recovered to 5 -4 up only to then go 9-5 down. They battled well and saved 4 match points and even lead 10 -9 before eventually losing 14 -12!! This meant Cambs could then only finish fifth if they won all their remaining matches!
Next up were West of Scotland and this proved to be a very easy match. Kira Reuter beat Holly Docherty 4-1, 4-1 very comfortably and was too powerful for her younger opponent. Aisha Brown (who was not feeling well) battled well to beat Catriona Macintosh 4-0, 4-1. Ellie Coleman beat Eve Lumsden 4-1, 4-1. Kira Reuter then teamed up with the vastly improved Molly McDonald to win the doubles 4-0, 4-1.
On the Sunday Cambridgeshire played against Warwickshire for fifth and sixth place. Kira played extremely well to remain undefeated in her singles beating Lily Crowther 4-0, 4-0. Aisha Brown had a tough match against Savannah Yardley narrowly losing 4-0, 2-4 and then 7-10 in the match tie break. Ellie Coleman lost to Madison Rumney 4-5. 2-4.
This meant Cambridgeshire were 2 matches to 1 down. Molly McDonald came into the deciding doubles with Kira Reuter and played extremely well as they beat Crowther and Lillian Mould 4-1. 4-0. This meant the match score was 2 matches all and a deciding doubles tie break was played. Kira Reuter played with Aisha Brown and they held their nerve to win and so finish a very proud third.
This is the first time that the Cambridgeshire girls 10 and under team have reached the finals and was a great team effort. Team Captain Sue Rich was delighted with their performances.
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