After four weeks of training the team were well prepared for the 9U County Cup. Kent had a team of eight players, which consisted of four girls - Emily Bolton, Daisy Carpenter, Skye Bentum-Siripi and Helen Coomber. The four boys were Oliver Evans, Hugo Coquelin, Timmy Viding and Michael Smirnov.
The format of the day was three boys singles, three girls singles, boys doubles, girls doubles and to finish with mixed doubles. In total nine rubbers in each match. Kent were to play Sussex, Surrey and Essex.
Kent’s first match was against Surrey. Kent took a 2-0 lead with Emily and Oliver wining two matches in 3 very tight sets. Hugo had a tough opponent and lost narrowly in two set. Daisy then put Kent further into the lead with a comfortable win. Kent 3-1. Timmy and Skye were playing next and if they both win their matches Kent win the tie against Surrey. Timmy got the upper hand in the match and put Kent into a 4-1 lead. Skye went on to win her match in three sets with some good tactical play.
Kent went on to win the match 7-2 in rubbers. Oliver & Michael and Daisy & Emily both won the doubles. Hugo and Helen lost in a very close 2 set match.
Next up was Sussex. Once again Emily and Oliver both had 3 set matches. Unfortunately Oliver couldn’t come through to win the match. Emily with a great competitive attitude came through to win the match. Daisy and Hugo stormed Kent into a 3-1 lead with straight sets victory. Timmy lost narrowly in three sets to a tough opponent. 3-2 Kent. The boys doubles went on whilst Skye was deep into her match. Michael and Oliver dominant their opponents with some unbelievable doubles to take Kent into a 4-2 lead.
Skye took the match in three sets to lead Kent to its 2nd win of the day. Emily and Daisy doubles lost in straight sets. Timmy and Helen confirmed Kent’s win over Sussex with a straight set win over Sussex’s mixed pair. Kent win 6-3.
This result puts Kent into a commanding position to win the county cup. The last county to play was Essex. Oliver couldn’t make an impact on his match and lost in straight sets. Emily, Hugo, Daisy and Timmy storm Kent into a 4-1 lead with all straight sets victories. Skye was in an epic match where she had 3 match points in the 2nd set she couldn’t take them and it went into a 3rd set. Skye went down 3-0 in the 3rd set, she fought very hard to come back into the set to take the set 8-6. This results means Kent are County Cup Champions!!!! Kent won the tie overall 6-3!!
Well done team it was a fantastic achievement of winning the 9U Aegon County Cup. I would like to thank all the team members and their families for all the effort which they put into the training and on the day it was faultless. Thank you also to John Shepard for his support on the day it had a great influence to the team.
Matthew Healy