The top 8 Men’s teams in the country competed over three days of high quality Team Tennis at The West Hants Club in Bournemouth recently. Each team competing in the Finals took part in the National Open league stage which ran from April to June; in Kent we had two representatives, A1 Pharmaceuticals Tennis Academy (Orpington) & Bromley Lawn Tennis Club.
The Men’s event included some very strong player nominations this year with many of the top players in the country nominated for the Finals. On the opening day of the competition, it was Holcombe Brook Sports Club Men who provided the biggest upset by defeating 3rd seeds David Lloyd Raynes Park 8-0.
After defeating West Hants LTC in the play offs, Bromley LTC were unlucky to be drawn against the number one seeds, an in form Mackintosh LTC from South Wales. Previous winners Bromley LTC were unfortunately beaten convincingly 4-0 by a very strong team.
Holcombe Brook ran in to defending champions Sutton Tennis & Squash Club in the Semi Finals who proved to be too strong as the Surrey club earned an 8-2 win to advance to the National Open Final for the 3rd consecutive year.
Awaiting Sutton Tennis & Squash Club in the Final was A1 Pharmaceuticals Tennis Academy from Orpington, Kent who overcame top seeds Mackintosh LTC from South Wales in an exciting, high quality semi-final on Saturday afternoon. After splitting the singles rubber 2-2, A1 went on to take both doubles rubbers to book their place in the National Open Final at their first attempt in the National tier of Aegon Team Tennis.
In Sunday’s Final, A1 started strongly with Toby Martin earning a 6-4 6-4 win over Sutton’s Cameron Norrie at Number 4 singles. However, Jack Carpenter responded for Sutton with a straight sets win at Number 3 singles. The pattern continued at Number 1 and Number 2 singles leaving the match level at 2-2 after singles.
View the rubber results from the Men’s Final
Sutton edged to within one rubber of the title with a win at Number 2 doubles. In one of the matches of the tournament, A1 came through a captivating Number 1 doubles rubber as Matthew Short and Marcus Willis (A1) defeated Josh Goodall and Jathan Malik (Sutton) 6-7 7-6 10-7.
Matthew Short proved an inspired choice as captain, by winning all 6 of his matches he proved critical to the team’s success as did Toby Martin who was unbeaten throughout the competition.
A1 fought hard to come from behind and reach the championship shootout, which is a notoriously tense affair but it can also be exciting for spectators. The format is 2 singles championship tie breaks and if the results are tied, there is a doubles championship break.
For the 2nd year running the Men’s Final was decided by shootout and on this occasion it was A1 who came out triumphant as Matthew Short and Toby Martin earned singles wins in the shootout to claim the National Open title for A1 Tennis Academy for the first time.
Congratulations