Finney grabs Roehampton glory

JUNIOR tennis star Harry Finney was a champion in Roehampton as he stormed to victory at the AEGON Grand Prix Masters.

The nine-year-old Derbyshire player lost only one round-robin match on his way to the final of the under-nine tournament, in which he defeated Adam Bolchover 5-7, 7-3, 7-3.

Finney, of Belper, was invited to compete after topping the Grand Prix leaderboard, which determines the eight boys to qualify for the tournament.  The youngster played in six competitions to earn his place in the Masters, finishing 120 points ahead of his nearest rivals.

And Finney got an extra dash of inspiration during the one-day tournament at the National Tennis Centre, when he spotted Britain's top player, Andy Murray, practising on a nearby court.  He said: "I thought seeing Andy Murray was really good. He was training as well as he could!  The tournament went well. I didn't play that well in the first bit but then I got better and better. I tried really hard and, after I lost my first match, I was more determined to do well.

He added: "I like tennis because it's an individual game and you can't blame anybody else if something goes wrong. I think I've been playing really well this year."

Finney opened the tournament by losing his first match 4-7, 7-2, 5-7, to Harry Wendelken in the round-robin section.  But he still managed to finish second in Group A and qualify for the semi-finals by beating Daniel Martin and Alexander Maggs 8-10, 7-4, 7-5 and 7-1, 7-4 respectively.

Finney, who also won the under-nine competition at the Derbyshire County Closed Championships in August, then reached the last round with a 7-4, 7-5 win over Tom Dillon.

His mother, Lorraine, said she was really impressed with her son's attitude during the tournament.  "A lot of children find it tough but Harry has a very professional attitude. He's very competitive and he never goes out with a fight. "