Dorset’s Tom Gutteridge has built on his performance at recent the Aegon British Tour event at West Hants by making the semi-finals of the Aegon British Tour Sutton event.
The current Dorset number one made a solid start with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Tom Mannings in the first round. He then showed his resolve as he came from behind in both sets to get past the number two seed Jarryd Bant in the second round. He was leading 7-5, 5-3 before Bant retired from the match.
In the quarter-finals Gutteridge played out a marathon match against big-serving Elliot Dimmock. After taking the first set 7-5, the Dorset player narrowly missed out on winning the second set and the match in a close tie-break that Dimmock won 7-5. Gutteridge was in full control of the decider, leading 5-2, but got tight and was pegged back to 5-4, before clinching the set 6-4 to win the match.
Due to his exploits in the quarter-finals and the two previous rounds, Gutteridge was forced to withdraw from the tournament before his semi-final match against Jathan Malik, who went on to win the tournament.
Gutteridge made the quarter-finals of the Aegon British Tour event at Bournemouth’s West Hants Club. He was eventually beaten by the number one seed in a mammoth three set encounter.
Away from the tournament environment, 20-year-old Gutteridge has been busy working through his coaching qualifications and he recently became the youngest ever coach in the UK to the senior performance coach course. He is currently coaching some of the counties best young players at the Virgin Active centre in Poole and he’ll be attending the Darren Toop event to watch over his players.
Click Here for information on the Aegon British Tour Sutton event
By Harry Lund