Cheshire Junior County Championships

Grappenhall LTC & Birchwood Tennis Centre again hosted the Championships. It was good to see many players returning to compete as well as plenty of new faces. This year the weather was good to us, and all of the events were completed on time.

 The first day was devoted to the 10 & under age group (mini green), with the competition amongst the boys proving to be very well contested. The final was played between Matthew Mcdaid (David Lloyd, Cheadle) and Oliver Hague (Bramhall, Queensgate) with Matthew taking the title. Florence Helsby (Widnes Academy) deservedly won the girls singles with Katie Huang (Bowdon) runner up.

The mini reds (8 & under) & orange (9 & under) players played on the indoor courts at Birchwood, and provided great entertainment and lots of well contested matches. The winners of the boys 8 & under singles was Daniel Longshaw (David Lloyd, Cheshire Oaks) who defeated Alfie King ( ??), and Ruby Roberts (David Lloyd, Cheshire Oaks) overcame Eva Senior (Bowdon) in another close match. The 9 & under boys singles final played between George Boles (Hale LTC) and Ilias Hirani Worthington (David Lloyd, Cheadle) was an excellent final with both boys showing great potential, and George eventually managed to win.

The U12 – U18 events provided some outstanding matches during the week. One noteworthy performance came from Matthew Mcdaid, our 10 & under champion reaching the final of the 12 & under singles, before eventually losing to Sam Reeve (Bramhall Lane) who dominated the event. The 14 & under boys and girls singles finals were both nail biting matches with match points to all the players! In the boy’s singles Tom Owen (Ellesmere Port) defeated Ben Nichol (Prestbury) 4 – 6, 7 – 6(6), 10 – 8, and the girl’s match was even closer with Rhona Cook (Birchwood) just edging out Olivia French (Bramhall Lane) 6 – 2, 1 – 6, 16 – 14. The 16 & under singles champions this year were Lewis Denton (Prestbury) and Eve Daniels (Bramhall Lane), and Eve went onto cap a very successful week by claiming two more titles in the 18 & under singles defeating Ellie Aldrich (Birchwood), & then winning the U18 doubles with Hanah Mccolgan (Bramhall Lane) against Ellie and Jade Carpenter (Birchwood). Last years 18 & under singles champion Adam Jones (Prenton) returned to defend his title, and he overcame strong resistance from Saleem Rizvi (Hoole) in the semi final 4 – 6, 6 - 3, 10 – 6, before taking the title again with a solid performance against Llewelyn Bevan (Rok). Llewelyn had shown his potential earlier with fine wins against Lewis Denton and Jamie Oakes (Rok).

The prestigious Dick Fontes trophy was awarded to Saleem Rizvi for his all round contribution to Cheshire tennis. Saleem has played regularly for the Junior County team, as well as willingly giving up his free time to help at his home club (Hoole) over a number of years. Saleem is an outstanding example of someone who has worked hard to improve his own tennis, but who has set a great example in the way he conducts himself both on and off court.

John Hilton

Tournament Organiser

Results - Cheshire LTA Junior County Championships 2015