Saturday 25th August saw all three mini age groups County championships taking place at the South Devon Tennis Centre in Ivybridge. As the first day of the week-long main tournament, it set such a standard that the older players would have a lot to live up to!
In the 8 & Under Red ball boys event, Daniel Mountford from Exeter Tennis Centre, took the title for the second year running with Ben Johnson, (Exmouth Tennis & Leisure Centre) as runner up . An excited Lizzie Warrender from Ivybridge won the girl’s event with Rhea Knight (S A Tennis, Exeter) as runner up. Lizzie's beaming smile as she received her trophy was indicative of her delight at winning her first trophy.
The 9 & Under orange ball event Taylor Ingham-Hill (Teignmouth TC) defeated Daniel Mountford in the final to retain his title and the top girl was Laura Mo (Exmouth Tennis & Leisure Centre) with Lauren McGinnis from Paignton as runner up. Laura had won the 8 & Under title the previous year so was maintaining her winning formula!
The 10 & Under green ball brought about an epic final between last year’s orange ball finalists Taylor Ingham-Hill (who had won) and Sam Hopper (TennisMAD, Ivybridge). Taylor was playing his first green ball competition and Sam was looking to win the 10 & Under County Championships before moving to yellow ball next season. The match lasted 1 3/4hrs. Taylor romped to take the first set 4-0 but a gritty and determined performance from Sam saw him pull it back in the second set which went to a tie break. Sam eventually took that 14-12. The third set match deciding tie break see-sawed between them, neither player giving in but eventually the match went to Sam 17-15. A truly fantastic end to the day!
Referee Colin Knight and assistant referee Rhys Dunford did a terrific job running all 3 events in one day but special thanks must go to the young TennisMAD tennis leaders from the South Devon Tennis Centre who did a great job as court supervisors and contributed to making it such an enjoyable day for the competitors.
See the tournament results