The Cambridgeshire County Closed event played at the Cambridge Lawn Tennis Club from the 24th to 28th August attracted 118 entries from the Clubs around the County. Pride of place goes to Aisha Brown who came away with 4 singles trophies – girls 14 and under; 16 and under; 18 and under and Open event.
Aisha was defending champion in the 14/16 and 18 age groups and not only did she defend these titles successfully but added the Open title as well.
Aisha beat the rapidly improving 12 year old Sama Malik in the 14 and under final 6/1, 7/5. Aisha beat Sama again in the 16 and under final 6/2, 6/1. In the 18 and under final Aisha had beaten second seed Thalia Martin in the semi-final and then top seed Lauren Watson-Steele in the final 5/7, 6/2, 10-6 in a very gripping match which saw some aggressive hitting from the baseline.
In the open final Natalie Bacon had upset top seed Lauren Watson-Steele in the semi -finals in another really tight match 4/6, 6/3, 10-8 and Aisha had beaten second seed Thalia Martin. Aisha proved just a little too consistent for Natalie and won the final 6/2, 7/5.
In the Boys 12 and under event top seed Yujiro Onuma played second seed Darius Fatemi-Ghomi and won 6/3, 6/4 in a solid baseline match.
In the 14 and under event Yujiro prevailed again, this time beating fourth seed James Murphy 6/4, 6/0 to once again highlight what a talent he is for Cambridgeshire tennis in the future.
In the 16 and under event Yujiro reached the semi -finals before bowing out in a really gripping match to second seed Sam Clark 7/6, 2/6, 8-10. Sam then went on to win the final defeating top seed Maki Zivotic 7/3, 3/6, 10-6.
In the 18 and under event top seed Dom Lea played the unseeded Alex Wardley and was 0-5 down when he pulled out with a shoulder injury to give Alex the match.
The previous day Dom Lea had played Charlie James in the final of the Open event and won 6/3, 7/5. This was the first time the open event had been held for a few years and the men attracted a good field of 19 players. There were some really good matches in this event with Maki Zivotic first upsetting seeded Josh Wilson before taking Dom Lea all the way in the semi-finals and only losing 11-9 in the match tie break third set. In the other half of the draw Charlie James had upset second seed Alex Wardley in the semi-finals 6/3, 6/4 before losing to Dom Lea in the final.
In the younger age groups Sam Slater won the 8 and under mixed event; Oliver Cross won the 9 and under mixed event; Lucas Summers won the 10 and under mixed event.
Doubles Champions were Sama and Chaaya Malik in the 14 girls and James Murphy and Yujiro Onuma in the 14 boys and Yujiro and Sama in the 14 mixed event.
Overall despite the inclement weather all matches were played and the quality of some of the finals was very encouraging for the future of Cambridgeshire tennis. Next year we hope to expand on the adult events and encourage more youngsters to play.
‘Well done to all those who played and thanks to the Cambridge Club for allowing the use of their facilities.’
Sue Rich – referee.
