Congratulations to the Kent U14 Boys team who reached the finals of the AEGON County Cup with convincing wins over Devon, Somerset and Buckinghamshire.
Played at Taunton Indoor Tennis Centre, Kent beat Devon 6-0, Somerset 6-0 and Buckinghamshire 5-1.
Saturday 5th May - Kent v Devon
- Thomas Wright 1. Wright and Van den Hoek
- James Davis 2. Robbins and Bargeron
- Alex Juniper
- Bailey Robbins
We kicked off our qualifying campaign with a tie against local county Devon. My goal for today was to make sure that all of the squad had the opportunity to play. On paper we were significantly stronger than our opponents and to be honest all of the counties in our group, but County Cup can throw up all sorts of shocks so we needed to be ruthless today...and we were! Bailey and Alex got off us off to the best of starts winning their matches in convincing style 6-1 6-1 and 6-0 6-2 respectively. James then in the blink of an eye wrapped up his win in 35 minutes, whilst Tom was in a tight first set with their number one player. Having staved off 2 set points against him Tom came through with a 7-6 6-2 win. 4-0 KENT
Liam and Tom then made short work of their number one doubles pair winning in ruthless fashion 6-1 6-1, showing great intensity and determination. Bailey and Milo got caught up in a struggle that shouldn’t have been before winning 6-4 4-6 (10-7) to ensure we recorded a whitewash on the first day. 6-0 KENT
Sunday 6th May - Kent v Somerset
- Thomas Wright 1. Wright and Van den Hoek
- James Davis 2. Robbins and Davis
- Alex Juniper
- Liam Van den Hoek
Sunday turned into a very long day of tennis, as due to the inclement weather forecast for Monday it was decided to not only play the scheduled match, but also the singles of Monday’s tie too. The matches went in a similar way to Saturday, the only difference was that Liam stood in for Bailey at number 4. Liam played a solid match wining 6-2 6-0, with Alex also winning 6-0 6-0. James and Tom also made short work of their opponents winning 6-0 6-2 and 6-0 6-0 respectively. 4-0 KENT
Milo came in for the resting Tom and paired up with Liam along with James and Bailey, both pairs performed well and won in straight sets. 6-0 KENT
Sunday 6th/Monday 7th - Kent v Buckinghamshire
- Thomas Wright 1. Wright and Van den Hoek
- James Davis 2. Davis and Robbins
- Alex Juniper
- Bailey Robbins
Buckinghamshire like us had comprehensively beaten their opponents on the two previous days, which set up a play-off match to qualify for the National Finals. We knew we would be too strong for our opponents in the 3rd and 4th position singles and Alex and Bailey didn’t disappoint, winning both matches in quick time. 2-0 KENT
James had a tough match up with Bucks no 2 Barney Smith, due to Barney’s rating being a little lower than it should be he was unable to play in his rightful no 1 position. Barney was unfortunately a little too tactically experienced than James and defeated him 6-2 6-2. Tom was then up against Bucks’ official number 1 and disposed of him 6-1 6-2. 3-1 KENT (overnight lead)
Monday saw us just having to win one of the doubles to win the tie and qualify for the National Finals. Due to the matches being reduced to one court Liam and Tom had the privilege of waiting to see if James and Bailey could round the tie off without them having to set foot on the court. Any hope that Bucks had of a fight back were quickly diminished by a very dominant display from our boys as they won 6-2 6-0!! Tom and Liam still took to the court and rounded off the tie with 4-2 4-0 win in their doubles. 5-1 KENT
The boys showed a lot of maturity this weekend and competed hard. They have certainly shown that they are contenders for the National title in two weeks time.
The Finals will take place at Nottingham Tennis Centre Friday 18 to Sunday 20 May (play starts at 10.30am on Friday 18 and 9.30am Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 May) – entry is free of charge, there is easy access to parking, on-site catering facilities … all supporters welcome!