The first of the Essex ladies invitational singles events was held at
Redbridge Sports and Leisure on Sunday and monday 15th and 16th May. The event was organised by Melanie Holmes, the selection committee and financially supported entirely by Essex Tennis.
Firstly, I would like to thank all of the competitors who took part in the
event and for the great team spirit. It was a pleasure to meet those I hadn't met before and great to see that the future of Essex Ladies tennis looks extremely promising.
Everyone played very well and it was encouraging to see the youngsters raising their games having been given the opportunity to compete against some older, more experienced players.
The top 4 seeds were awarded byes in their first round. Coming back after
injury, Erica izatt (3rd seed) was knocked out by Shannon Newnes who looked sharp after returning from her first year on a tennis scholarship at Akron Universiversity USA. She faced Eva Dench in the semi final, who has also just completed her first year on scholarship in the USA at Texas State University. Since the 2 are good friends it was possibly one of the most polite matches I've ever seen, Eva even offered Shannon a let when Shannon's shoe fell off mid-point! The 3 set match put Eva through to the final.
In the other end of the draw sat Eden Silva, who had recently returned from an impressive trip to Egypt, reaching the quarters in one and the final in
another 25k tournament. This had improved her world ranking to 874.
Her opponent, the youngest of the semi finalists, Caitlyn Hardy apparently had some sort of rocket fuel for breakfast and came out all guns firing to go 1-0 up. Clearly eager to see what she could take away from the chance to play a world ranked player, Caitlyn played some feisty tennis but Eden's experience shone through as she won in straight sets.
In the final there were some cracking points. A small crowd gathered along
the balcony with the whispers of "who are they? They're hitting it so hard!"
There really was some superb tennis played but Eden again won in straight
sets. The next tournament will be a doubles event at sunny Thorpe Bay Tennis Club on the Wimbledon finals weekend. It should be a great weekend of fantastic tennis as the men will also be holding their equivalent event there too. All are welcome to watch!
Melanie Holmes
Essex Ladies Team Captain