It was the turn of the emerging young players to shine at the 3ESecurity County Closed Tennis Tournament at Hills Road. Pride of place goes to Lizzie Pam who won the 14, 16 and 18 and under girls’ singles and Toby Huffer who won both the 14 and 16 and under boys singles. C J Kindred, a pupil at Hills Road School took the boys 18 and under singles, doubles and mixed events.
Many of the top players were absent at the County Closed which was a shame as this is the chance for all players in Cambridgeshire County to come together and play against their peers in a friendly competitive environment.
In their absence 13 year old Lizzie Pam showed her great potential by firstly winning the 14 and under title beating the rapidly improving 11 year old Aisha Brown 6-0, 6-4. Lizzie then took on top seed Natalie Bacon in what was a very hard hitting match in the 16 and under event and won 6-1, 6-1, although the score did not reflect the quality of the hitting. In the 18 and under event Lizzie beat the much improved Thalia Martin 6-2, 6-0. Lizzie won 3 finals for the loss of only 8 games – no mean feat for a 13 year old and capped a very good summer for her.
In the 18 and under boys event second seed CJ Kindred came back from 1-5 down in the first set to beat the top seed Culford’s Joe Matta 7-6, 6-4 in what was the closest match of the day. Joe got off to a good start before CJ found his range and battled back to take the set into a tie break. CJ’s added power on his serve helped him through. CJ then won the doubles with school partner Alex Loughlan and paired up with Natalie Bacon to beat Lizzie Pam and Tristan Bacon in the mixed doubles 6-4, 7-6.
The boys younger age groups were dominated by two 14 year olds Toby Huffer and John Taylor. They contested both the 14 and under and 16 and under finals. In the 16 and under event Toby narrowly beat John in a really competitive match with lots of quality rallies 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a marathon match. They came back the next day and played again in the 14 and under final which Toby again won 6-4, 6-3. The boys 14 and under doubles was won by Lui Murton and Rory Dixon who beat 11 year old Charlie Taylor and 10 year old Harry Wendelken 7-6, 6-4.
Charlie James from Peterborough won the boys 12 and under final against Vincent Chen 6-2, 6-3. Charlie had narrowly won his semi final against the much improved Harry Wendelken by 12-10 in the third set match tie break having saved a match point!
Harry Wendelken deservedly won the boys 10 and under title beating James Murphy 4-0, 4-1. The girls 10 and under finals was won by Diketso Karas who beat her sister Khumo 2-4, 4-2 11-9.
The 9 and under and 8 and under events attracted the biggest entries and provided some exciting tennis with some promising players showing off their potential. All four boys in the semi-finals are players to look out for in the future – Yujiro Onuma, Zac Cox, Alexander Boyd-Bench and Ben Knight. Ben Knight beat Zac Cox in the final 7-2, 5-7, 7-2. In the girls event Megan Carmichael beat Charlotte Laing 3-7, 7-4, 12-10.
In the 8 and under mixed event on the red court with the sponge balls Yujiro Onuma had a great tournament and beat Richard Bramley 10-3, 13-11 in the final – two players with a lot of talent.
Referee Sue Rich was very impressed with the enthusiasm of the younger players. She said ‘It was a pity some of the older players did not support the event but it was great to see CJ perform so well, Lizzie start to show her potential, Toby and John battle out two good matches, Charlie and Harry playing a cliff hanger and the young ones support the County so well. We just need the clubs to encourage their players to compete more next year’.