Aegon British Tour Newcastle 1 (NTB15S1090)
27th April – 2nd May 2015
Open men’s and women’s singles
Tournament Organiser/Referee: Peter Greatorex (LTA)
The British weather has been less than kind to the Tour in the NE of England held at the superbly well-equipped Northumberland Tennis Club, Jesmond. The inclement wind, cold temperatures and rain caused several issues for the players, in the first half of the week however, by the final the sun shone, intermittently.
From an international field of 103 players—the first two days involved men and women’s qualifiers, leading to the main draws commencing on Wednesday 29th April. In terms of play, the men’s draw went to form where David Porter (No. 1 seed) and Clay Crawford (No. 2 seed) lined up in the final. Conversely, the women’s draw produced some inspired play by Katie Dyson to unseat the top seed (Beth Askew) and similarly, Lidia Burrows beat third seed Lily Ghodrati to produce an unseeded final. A report of the simultaneous finals is described below:
Men's final – 2nd May 2015, 10am
David Porter (21, Cheshire) v Clay Crawford (20, Yorkshire)
First set—Porter quickly takes a commanding lead, whipping the ball across court and although double faulting for the first time holds for 3-0. Crawford holds the next game and starts to fight producing long rallies, pushing Porter into an unforced error with a strong one handed back hand, which is unleashed at several key points. Porter steps up the tempo sending Crawford around the court to hold his serve leading 4-2. In response, Crawford breaks Porter to draw back one in a hotly contested game 4-3. As the contest becomes closer, Porter immediately breaks back 5-3 to serve for the first set, yet a net cord goes in Crawford’s favour on the first point allowing the pressure to mount on Porter’s serve resulting in what could be a crucial break—5-4. Crawford holds serve easily with pinpoint accuracy and speed to to level the match 5-5.
Porter to serve—hard fought game with Crawford producing the one handed back hand signature shot and placing pressure on Porter. This produced several double faults accompanied by angst from Porter to break and take the lead, leaving Crawford serving for the first set. Gaining in confidence, Crawford serves and volleys to take the first set 7-5.
Second set—Porter starts confidently after the break to serve and volley well to take first game of the set. Crawford rescues his serve from Porter’s pressure to come back from 15-40 to hold 1-1. Crawford quickly establishes his shots applying pressure to break Porter (1-2) then holding convincingly to go 1-3 up. Porter responds with inspired serving using the court wide and placing shots 2-3. Crawford using a beautiful drop shot takes a 2-4 lead and continues to apply pressure from a variety of ground strokes and unleashing the one handed backhand producing uncharacteristic unforced errors from Porter. This leaves Crawford serving for the match. Starting tentatively with a double fault, Porter Seizes his chance and produces some inspired shots to invoke pressure, clawing a game back—3-5. The Porter service game is close but he holds to continue to pressure Crawford—4-5. Crawford leaves the prior service game behind, firing first serves at Porter to convincingly take the match 7-5, 6-4.
Women’s final – 2nd May 2015, 10am
Katie Dyson (18, Hertfordshire) v Lidia Burrows (16, Yorkshire)
First set—Dyson leading 2-1 on serve and equally matched at this stage. This balance shifts quickly as Dyson breaks and holds to go 4-1 up with accurate defensive shots, serve variety and well placed drop shots from mid court. Reflecting the men’s final, the fight back begins as Burrows draws unforced errors from Dyson by varying her return and several first serves to bring it back on serve at 5-4. The fight back continues as Burrows takes the lead for the first time in the set—6-5. As her confidence continues a solid service game with accurate ground strokes seals the first set, 7-5.
Second set—Dyson serves confidently to take the first game. Dyson appears to be struggling with a slight back injury following a slide on the court and stops visibly holding her lower back and stretching, but produces the form from Friday, inspired drop shots and well placed cross-court ground strokes—3-0. Remains strong at 4-1 followed by dropping a service game to provide a window of opportunity for Burrows while retaining the lead at 5-2, Dyson serves in dominant style to take the second set and level the match to set up a deciding set, 6-2.
Third set—starts mirroring the first where both women are on serve, 2-1 to Burrows but Dyson steps into the second gear produced on Friday to place strategic ground strokes, superb sliced drop shots from mid court, breaking Burrows to create the advantage at 4-2. There seems to be some several disagreements over line calls, which requires the umpire to intervene following the conclusion of the men’s final. However, Dyson continues to drive Burrows backwards with long, accurate ground strokes resulting in what appears to be a decisive 5-2 lead, poised to serve for the match. Burrows, takes the requisite time to return to the court and it produces the desired effect as she breaks Dyson to take a game back 5-3. Undeterred, Dyson plays inspired chip and charge with a delightful drop shot to immediately break back and take the match 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
For full tournament details, see: http://lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=F028E5C1-9E49-40C5-840B-C390FB9FBC77