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The final week of August saw the culmination of this summer’s junior tournament circuit, The Essex Junior County Closed Lawn Tennis Championships. The event, hosted by Thorpe Bay LTC, was blessed with fantastic weather throughout the week and was supported by almost 300 competitors.
Finals Day opened with the 12 & Under finals which saw Cameron Isbell (Virgin Active Clearview) defeat Rittik Anand (Virgin Active Clearview) in the Boys’ event in a high quality match, whilst Annali Olivelle (Woodford Wells) beat Ashlie Hale (Ipswich Sports Club) in the Girls’ event. Cameron and Rittik later teamed up to win the 14 & Under Boys Doubles title with victory over James Benbrook (Hills Road HPC) and Toby Dunlea (Cranston Park).
Annali was back in action in the 14 & Under Girls Final, this time losing out to Worthy Goldman (Redbridge TC) 6-2, 6-1. The 14 & Under Boys final was a much closer affair, with Tommy Smalley (Virgin Active Clearview) beating Ajay Modwadia (Virgin Active Clearview) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in one of the matches of the day. Worthy later partnered sister, Winworth, to victory over Sherria and Zaria Daniel (White Hart Lane LTC) in the 14 & Under Girls Doubles final. Sherria did return with her brother, Simeon, to take the 14 & Under Mixed Doubles title with a win over Harrison Varda and Phoebe Collins (Connaught).
In the first of her four finals of the day, Alexandra Jones (Grove, Saffron Walden) beat Erica Izatt (Connaught) 6-3, 6-3 to take the 16 & Under Girls title. Andrew Berry (Westcliff Hard) secured the 16 & Under Boys crown with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Darien Lamb (Westcliff Hard). Andrew later added the 16 & Under Boys Doubles title to his singles success, partnering George Gray (Cranston Park) to victory over James Caddies and Tommy Smalley (Virgin Active Cleaview).
The 18 & Under Boys title was won by Peter Odegbami (Deanes) with a straight sets victory over top seed Jared Linzell (Woodford Wells) - a well deserved victory for Peter after some fine performances throughout the week. The 18 & Under Girls final was the second encounter of the day between Alexandra Jones and Erica Izatt, with Alexandra again succeeding 6-3, 7-5 in a closer contest. Alexandra followed this up with victory in the 16 & Under Girls Doubles, teaming up with Isabella Wolfe (Thorpe Bay) to beat Amelia (Theydon Bois) and Phoebe Collins. Alexandra’s perfect day was complete when she took her fourth title of the day, the 18 & Under Mixed Doubles, partnering James Caddies to victory over Andrew Berry and Isabella Wolfe. The 18 & Under Boys Doubles final was a one-sided affair with Finlay Milner and Sam Viravong (Westcliff Hard) proving too strong for Louis Lee-Allan (Braintree) and Thomas Peek (The Essex G&CC).
The Open Men’s final was contested between the top two seeds, Jared Linzell and Harry Randle (Thorpe Bay). Jared took the first set but Harry, last year’s runner-up, rallied to take a close second set before closing out an entertaining match 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. The Open Ladies’ event was completed on Friday evening, Christie-Ann Hale (Westcliff Lawn) taking the title with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Carys Gilbert (Hutton & Shenfield).
The mini-tennis events were completed earlier in the week with successes for Johnathon Price (Grove, Chelmsford) in the 10 & Under Boys, Arabella Moen (Brentwood Hard) in the 10 & Under Girls, Peter Eriksson (Billericay) in the 9 & Under Boys, Ananya Vartak (Thorpe Bay) in the 9 & Under Girls, Sam Mortimer-Ford (Danbury) in the 8 & Under Boys and Ellie Blackford (Danbury) in the 8 & Under Girls.
The trophy presentations were made by ECLTA President, John Tucker and included special awards to Peter Odegbami (Player of the Tournament), Ajay Modwadia (Most Improved 14 & Under Player) and Graham Boosey (Referee’s Trophy).
The event was refereed by Mark Bragoli and Lesley and Ian Pitt, overseeing almost 500 matches. A huge thank you goes to the team of volunteers at Thorpe Bay LTC who gave of their time to enable the tournament to take place.
Final Results Report