It is pleasing to report that there was a big increase in entries compared to last year, especially in some of the girls’ events, and the Competitions & Tournaments Committee hope that players and parents alike enjoyed the Championships. We really want you to come back again next year, so please put the date for next years Championships in your diary .…….week beginning 23rd August.
The first day of the Championships began with the U10 (mini green) age group, and the players served up some very entertaining tennis that was well contested. Lewis Wilson (Bramhall Queensgate LTC) and Sam Reeve (Bramhall Lane LTC) deservedly reached the final of the boys, with Sam taking the title. The girls’ final was played between the two top seeds Alice Shields (Widnes LTC) and Lara Wedd ( Neston LTC). After a real battle, especially in the second set Alice came out on top.
The mini reds & orange events didn’t have to suffer the difficult weather conditions for the older age groups by virtue of playing indoors. Both the U8 players as well as the U9 produced some very entertaining tennis, and showed that Cheshire tennis has some real talent coming through. Congratulations to Katie Huang (Bowdon LTC) & Florence Helsby (Widnes LTC) who reached the final of the mini orange. Katie won a really close final 11-9, 4 – 7, 7 – 4. In the boys’ event William Morris (Prestbury LTC) and Oliver Hague (Bramhall Queensgate LTC) did very well to make the final, with William the eventual winner. There were 32 boys’ entries in our mini reds event, and William Andrews (Lymm LTC) and Christopher Clarke (Heswall LTC) did very well to reach the final, with William winning a hard fought contest. Whilst not such a large entry in the girls, they all did really well and Charlotte Moran (Prestbury LTC) defeated Mia Jones ( Widnes LTC) in the final.
The U12 – U18 players had to deal with heavy rain, strong winds and occasional sunny periods, and it is to their credit that they all applied themselves really well despite the difficult conditions. The Competitions & Tournaments Committee were impressed with the overall standard of behaviour on court, and are faced with the difficult problem of selecting a winner for the Fair Play Award as they have a long list of players who showed good sportsmanship throughout the event. The winner will be announced at our annual awards evening on October 13th.
During the week there were some excellent matches in both the singles and doubles and whilst it might be somewhat unfair to single out a number of players, special mention should be made of Gabriella Komsiiski (Lymm LTC), who lost in both the final of the U12 & U14 singles. Both finals were so close with identical scores of 6 – 7, 4 – 6! Congratulations to both Rhona Cook & Hannah McColgan (Bramhall Lane LTC) who became champions. Hannah also won her second singles title when she won the U16 singles.
Rhona now qualifies for the U12 Babolat Masters along with Tom Owen (Ellesmere Port LTC) who defeated Robin Bloomer (Nantwich LTC ). Although Robin lost, he too will play in this prestigious event as he won a grade 3 event which made him eligible to play in the Masters which takes place over the weekend of 13th/14th September. Good luck to all three players.
The U14 boys singles saw a number of seeded players not making it to the final stages of the event. Both Owen Kirkham (Heswall LTC) & Ben Leeman (Upton Victory LTC), who were both unseeded, were responsible for defeating five seeds between them! Owen eventually lost in the final to top seed Zyaan Ahmed. Owen & Ben deservedly went onto win the doubles title.
Zyaan’s achievement is particularly noteworthy as just 2 years ago he won the U12 singles playing with his right hand, and this year he won the U14 event playing with his left hand! Zyaan deserves special congratulations as does his coach Tomas David. It is definitely an absolute first in Cheshire (possibly the whole of GB), and I doubt if this record will ever be broken.
The U16 & U18 boys’ singles finals involved the same two players, Adam Jones (Prenton LTC) and Lewis Denton (Prestbury LTC). Adam and Lewis served up some high quality tennis, with Adam coming out on top in both matches. Adam was also awarded the prestigious Dick Fontes Trophy for his all round contribution to Cheshire tennis including the volunteer work he has done at Prenton LTC. He is a really good example of someone who not only works very hard on court, but also at his own club.
John Hilton
Competitions & Tournaments Committee