Last year’s 10 & Under team found themselves in a position to fight for a top three finish and this year’s team found it to be a similar story. Playing again at Brighton’s Pavilion & Avenue Tennis Club, Dorset’s team of Ben Samuel, Thomas Powell, Luke Chappell and Rhys Saidi had their chances to cause upsets and progress to the semi finals of the South East regional stage but came up short.
Playing in a very tough first round qualifying box, Surrey featured the top two players in the country. Jack Draper, the countries number one ranked player, beat Dorset number one Ben Samuel 4-2, 4-1. Dorset number two Thomas Powell, rose to the occasion and nearly provided the shock of the event earning match points against Michael Mhagami before succumbing to the countries number two ranked player losing 12-10 in a final tie break decider. Dorset number three Luke Chappell fought hard but was out rallied by George Davis. Luke Chappell and Rhys Said teamed up but were outplayed by their opponents who were full of confidence.
Next up for Dorset was the strong Hampshire team, again full of National level players. Ben Samuel almost got the team off to the best start taking the first set against Ryan Hutchinson only to lose 10-8 in the third set tie break. Thomas Powell made up for his disappointment against Michael Mhagami to produce a fine win against the highly talented, Hampshire hotshot number two Wilson Neaves in straight sets. Luke Chappell found himself three love down being blasted off the court by Blu Baker only to hit back and win the set and earn three match points in the second set before losing a tough third set tie break. This meant that a doubles match win could swing the match back in Dorset’s favour. Ben and Thomas teamed up taking the first set against Ryan and Blu with some aggressive volleying. The Hampshire pair then moved back into defensive positions and found their range with their ground strokes to turn the match around and win in the third set.
After narrowly losing out in several match tie breaks, the best the team could now finish was 5th or 6th. Berkshire stood in the way of a 5th place finish.
Ben Samuel won his first singles match of the weekend beating Callum Rendall in a topsy turvy affair. Ben outclassed his opponent in the first set 4-1 only to lose the second 0-4. Ben managed to stay aggressive and won the tie break 10-3 to put Dorset on their way. Thomas Powell matched Ben’s great start winning his first set 4-0 and then battled his way to a 5-4 second set win. Luke Chappell won his match against Oscar Bartlett 4-1, 4-1. Thomas and Rhys teamed up to finish Berkshire off in the doubles.
The team decided that their “Most Valuable Player Award” recipient was Thomas Powell for winning two out of his three singles matches and almost causing the biggest upset of the tournament. As Captain of the team “I would like to thank the team for their effort over the three days, give thanks to Lizzie Toop for the organisation and Rhys’ dad Hoj for his support. I hope that this experience will help them in the future and win more third set deciders!”