Date: 1st and 2nd June 2013
Venue: Bromley Tennis Centre
Kent Team:
Jack Pinnington Jones, Archie Turner, Liam Vincent, Charlie Stembridge & Luke Ralph
Day One
First match: Kent vs Buckinghamshire 4-0
Charlie Stembridge kicked off proceedings as number 3 against Buckinghamshire. I purposely rested Archie Turner for the tougher match against Dorset later in the day so our order slightly changed. Charlie played his consistent tennis and won convincingly 4-2 4-0 to give Kent a 1-0 lead. Jack Pinnington Jones and Liam Vincent played as number 1 and number 2 respectively. Both players had a solid start and won the first set comfortably but both saw their opposition improve their game in the second set so had to stay focussed to win the second set and the match. Final score saw Jack win 4-1 5-4 and Liam win 4-0 5-3 which gave Kent an unassailable 3-0 lead. In the doubles I decided to play Charlie Stembridge and Luke Ralph who practiced well in the weeks prior to the competition and I wanted to use all our players on the team. It proved to be a good decision as Charlie and Luke played very well and won 4-1 4-2 to make the final score 4-0 to Kent.
Second match: Kent vs Dorset 0-4
Going into the match we knew we had a tough match in front of us as Dorset had a very strong team with highly ranked National players. Archie Turner, our number 2 player started first , a very tough against Luca Mcmanus going down 4-2 4-0. There were some great points played throughout the match but Luca was just too good on the day for Archie. Our number 3 Liam Vincent went on next. Liam was a bit tense at the start which his opponent took advantage of winning the first set 4-1. Second set was a lot better with Liam being more aggressive with his forehand and wining the set 4-1. First 4 points in the match tiebreak were very close but Liam was unfortunate to lose them and found it hard to come back eventually losing the tiebreak 10-3. Our number 1 Jack was next on the court. This match was of a great quality with hard hitting from baseline and good attacking play from both players. Jack went on to lose the match 4-1 4-2 which was a lot closer than the score suggests.
As we were down 3-0 it was still very important for us to play well in the doubles to give us confidence for the semi-final the next day. Our number 1 doubles team did just that playing a very good doubles match with good aggression at the net. Boys had chances to win in both sets and played a better quality doubles but just came short in both sets losing in the tiebreaks, 5-4 5-4.I thought boys played very well throughout the day and I was confident going into the semi-final.
Day 2
Semi-final: Kent vs Surrey 2-2 (lost in the shootout)
Jack played first and gave us a great start winning 4-1 4-2. He showed great composure throughout the match to give Kent the lead 1-0. Archie was next on playing against Max Basing who was their strongest player but played at number 2.. The match started with great quality points and first 3 games went to deuce but Archie was not able to win the big points and ended up losing the first set 4-0. He then found it hard emotionally in the second set and lost his concentration and in the end losing the match 4-0 4-1 which tied the match at 1-1. Liam was next on and I was confident going into this match as he has been playing very well. This proved to be correct at the start of the match and Liam played confident free flowing tennis and managed to get to 4-0 3-2 lead with a match point on serve at 40-30. On match point Liam hit top of the tape with his backhand and the ball unfortunately didn't go over and it proved to be a turning point of the match as Liam went on to lose in the match tiebreak 10-5. This made the score 2-1 to Surrey. Needing to win the doubles rubber to take us into a match tiebreak shootout I was confident that Jack and Liam can do it. After losing the first set in the tie break they showed great doubles play and turned the match around to win the third set 10-7 in the match tiebreak to level the tie at 2-2. The match then had to be concluded in a doubles tiebreak shootout. Both teams kept the same pairings so it made for an interesting finale. Surrey boys went on the defensive from the first point playing with both players at the back every point which made it harder for our boys. They kept fighting and played a better quality attacking doubles but came agonisingly close to lose 10-7 in the shootout which crushed our dreams of reaching the final.
Third place play off: Kent vs Sussex 3-1
Surprising to me our boys showed great commitment to shrug off their narrow loss in the semi-final and were very keen to finish with a win and finish third. All 3 boys won their singles matches which gave us an unassailable lead 3-0. It was great to see Archie win his first singles match of the weekend and he showed great courage to step up and play as he wanted to prove himself in front of his team mates. For the doubles I decided to play Charlie and Luke to finish the weekend with the whole team playing. The boys lost the doubles 4-1 5-4 in a close fought second set but the match did not have any bearing on the result as Kent already won the rubber and finished third.
I would like to say a big thank you to all the parents and most importantly the players. It was my pleasure to work with them and I was pleased to see them try their hardest every match. All the players have a great future in front of them and I wish them all the best.
Davor Baretic
10U Boys County Cup Captain