Oundle Tennis Club held its first Grade 4 Tournament which kicked off on 5th August. Events included the under 8's, under 9's, under 10's and under 12's Boys events.
The under 8's saw 8 players compete in a round robin format of 2 boxes with the top 2 players going through to the semi finals. It was a strong competition which saw group A finish very close amongst 3 of the 4 players with a few matches going further than the first to 10 points and by 2 clear points. It was Jakob Bonnett (Oundle) that topped the group with 3 wins out of 3. Runner up was Isaac Redding (Kettering) who only lost out on top spot by losing to Jakob 13-11.
Group B was a bit different, the top 2 rated players moved through to the semi-finals. Emily Pollard (Market Harborough) finished top of the group ahead of Matthew Moloney (Northampton) with their score against each other going to Emily 10-8.
The Semi Finals saw Emily play Isaac and Jakob vs Matthew. Both semi-finals saw some great tennis but it was the 2 top seeds that came through with Jakob winning 10-6 and Emily winning 10-8. 3rd vs 4th playoff saw Matthew Moloney come out on top against Isaac Redding with a 10-6 victory.
The Final was a repeat of the Stamford Grade 4 tournament earlier in the year which Emily had won. However on this occasion it was Jakob Bonnett who fought to victory with a 10-6 win to claim the under 8s Final.
The under 9's tournament saw 11 players attend from all over the country.There was a round robin format consisting of a box of 6 and 5 players with the top 2 players going through the semi finals.
Group A saw Lewis Wilson (Cheshire) win all his matches to claim top of the group quite comfortably but the runner up spot was a different story with 3 players all tied with 2 wins each.The points percentage rule came in and with Toma Kerac (Middlesex) with the highest percentage also progressed.
Group B was a bit more simple. Calum Fairey (Herts) won all his group matches to finish 1st with William Stanier (Stamford) finishing 2nd with only 1 loss.
The semi-finals saw Lewis Wilson beat William Stanier 8-6 7-3 in a tight match to go through to the final to meet Calum Fairey who won his semi-final in a much tighter affair against Toma Kerac 5-7 7-3 7-3. 3rd vs 4th playoff saw William Stanier enjoy the success with a fine result over Toma 7-3 7-4. The final was a tough battle between the top 2 players of the tournament.Lewis Wilson took the title with 7-4 8-6 result.
The Under 10's Tournament saw a late withdrawal which meant there was only 9 players in 3 groups of 3 players playing best of 3 short sets.The Winners of each group and the best runner up would contest the semi finals.
Group A Winner Umar Gull(Stony Stratford) won all his matches including a tight match against Jacob Ainsworth (Lincs) to take top spot. Group B Enis Ismail (Beds) Won his group without dropping a game. Group C Leon Kewney (Cambs) also won his group with 2 fine wins to progress. The best runner up spot went to Jacob Ainsworth who had the highest percentage to also go through.
The semi-finals saw both matches have a close set Jacob came through against Enis 5-3 4-0 and Umar also took victory aver Leon 4-2 5-3. 3 vs 4th saw Leon dominate over Enis with a 4-1 4-0 win. The final was a repeat off the first match of group A with the exact same result Ulmar won the final over Jacob 4-2 4-1.
The final event was the boys under 12s tournament which was a compass draw, which saw 10 players compete. In a good tournament there were many close sets but it was the 2 top seeds of Max Evans (Northampton) and Peirs Bodily (Northampton) that progressed to the final,in a very good final and many good rallies it was Max Evans that came out on top to win 6-2 6-4.