The Championships took place between 28th May – 4th June at West Hants LTC Bournemouth, and attracted players from various European Countries and from as far afield as Australia and South Africa.
Cheshire where well represented, and it is pleasing to report that four Cheshire players secured National titles. A total of seven Cheshire players entered the Championships:
- Alma A’Court – 80’s + singles & doubles
- Seb Jackson – 45’s + singles & doubles
- Stephen Jones – 40’s + singles
- John Hilton – 65’s + singles & doubles
- Peter Clover – 70’s + singles & doubles
- Stuart Gould - 80’s + singles & doubles
- Peter Ellison – 80’s + singles & doubles
Alma A’Court played really well in both events, and reaching both finals was an outstanding achievement. Although she lost in the singles, Alma and her partner June Pearce secured a convincing 6 – 3, 6 -2 win.
Seb Jackson produced some great tennis on his way to reaching the final in both the singles & doubles. In a high quality singles final he met an opponent who played some truly exceptional tennis, and lost out in a quality 3 set match. Seb, however, went on to add yet another National title to his collection by winning the doubles 6 – 1, 6- 3 with his singles final opponent Timur Shadiev .
Stephen Jones was playing in his first British Seniors’ National Championships. Stephen, previously a member of Birkenhead LTC, now lives in the south of England, however, it’s good to know he remains loyal to Cheshire LTC. Stephen did especially well reaching the singles semi final, and only just lost in 3 sets.
John Hilton lost in a very close singles to a highly ranked South African who went onto to narrowly lose in the final. The doubles draw was also far from straight forward with John & his partner Niall Sweeney (who where unseeded), managing to defeat both the No.2 & 3 seeds in straight sets, before facing the silver medalists in the 2015 World Championships in the final. It couldn’t have been any closer with it standing at 8 – 8 in a deciding tie break, before John & Niall won the next two points to claim a noteworthy victory.
Peter Clover’s success came in the doubles with his new partner Chris Ornstein. They won their first match in two sets, and followed this up with a convincing win in the semi final 6- 1, 6 – 3. They faced the favourites and no. 2 seeds in the final, however, this made no difference as they dominated both sets winning 6 – 3, 6 – 1. This is Peter’s first National title, after many years of trying, and is so well deserved.
Stuart Gould came through a tough first singles match, and then benefitted from the withdrawal of his next opponent to reach the semi final where he faced the no. 4 seed. Stuart unfortunately came up against a tough opponent and couldn’t make it into the final. His doubles partner Peter Ellison had a really difficult 1st round draw losing to Stuart’s semi final opponent. Stuart & Peter teamed up in the doubles event, and had a convincing 6 – 0, 6 – 1 win to take them into the semi finals. They then faced the No. 1 seeds and favourites and could not cause an upset despite a great effort.
So it’s congratulations to Alma A’Court, Seb Jackson, John Hilton and Peter Clover for bringing National titles home to Cheshire.