Bright warm sunshine welcomed the club champions when they arrived at the Notts LTA County ground as this picturesque setting with its immaculate grass courts was to be the venue for this year’s competition.
The format for the four sections was on a round-robin basis, with the top two to play a final match. This partly to give everyone a chance to play on the superb grass and partly due to a rather high number of last minute withdrawals that left gaps in the original K.O. draw. This format did give the players a chance to overcome any first-match nerves and become more used to playing on grass, which for many was a first time experience.
The Ladies Doubles.
The strong line up of Ann Brown and Nicola Coleman, Mansfield, gave nothing away winning all their round-robin matches. Then last years runners up Lianne Tapson and Mell Milner, Grantham, also swept through the field with their only loss against Ann and Nicola, thus giving them a second chance to play the Mansfield pair in a final.
After a slow start and dropping the first set 6-3 to Ann and Nicola, Lianne and Mell started to find some real form in the second set and forced a tie break at 6 all.
This was a very determined effort, with long rallies and nothing given away by either team all the way up to 9 all, at which point the Mansfield pair seemed to move up a gear to take the next two vital points and the match 6-3 7-6 (11-9).
The Mens Doubles.
It became quite clear early on who was going to be one of the top two finalists in this section with Niral Nana and Rickie Gill, Mansfield in explosive form and with quite daring interceptions time after time from Niral.
Who they would play in the final was at first less certain as the Jon Mitchell and Leigh Day, East Bridgford match against Nick Sturrock and Sam Richardson, Welbeck progressed to three very tight sets with the East Bridgford team eventually taking the third tie break set 10-5 to put them in the final.
In the final, the Mansfield pair had lost none of their fire with the still rapier like interceptions from Niral punishing the more defensive position taken by Jon and Leigh ending with a 6-4 6-2 win for Niral and Rickie.
The Edith Middleton Challenge Bowl Ladies Singles.
With Lianne Tapson, Grantham defending her title and Ann Brown, Mansfield a strong contender in the singles this event was certain to produce some entertaining matches.
Ann Brown proved to be in unstoppable form winning all of her round-robin matches with a display of relentless and accurate ground strokes that simply drained the will from her opponents.. Leanne Tapson again proved to be the second strongest in the section and a final match was scheduled but then had to be abandoned after a cloud burst flooded the courts leaving Ann Brown this years winner based on the round-robin results.
The Edith Middleton Challenge Cup Mens Singles.
The mens round-robin event finished rather closer than the ladies with two players achieving the same number of wins. A final was scheduled at the same time as the ladies but this suffered the same fate from the thunder storm. The referee then had to count back over the games won and lost to arrive at an overall winner. This placed Alex Buckley, East Bridgford the winner over Niral Nana Mansfield, Alex having won their earlier encounter in the round-robin section.
Trophies were presented on the day but the two Edith Middleton singles cups will be presented at the Tennis Awards evening in Feb.2013.
This new venue was much appreciated by all those taking part and I wish to join them in thanking Peter Dion and his ground staff for preparing the courts to such a high standard. My thanks also to Greg Ella for his help and support and to all the clubs supporting this event.
John Poxon.
Ann Bro