Qualifying
The Surrey Under 14's Girls team were at home in Roehampton for the qualifying stages of County Cup. The team comprised of Gemma Heath, Jizel Matos-Sequeria Fernandes, Alessandra Ruggieri, Elisa Van Meerteren, Eloise Saraty, Kung Phimlee and Freya Hampton-Evans.
Their first opponents were Leicestershire, and Surrey got off to a great start with Eloise Saraty and and Elisa Van Meerteren wining both their singles and only dropping a single game between them. Jizel won her matching comfortable in two sets giving Surrey a 3-0 lead. In the final singles Gemma Heath fought hard to win 6-2 in the third and win the match for Surrey. Surrey went on to win both doubles beating Leicestershire 6-0.
On the second day Surrey played Wiltshire and this time it was Kung and Alessandra getting Surrey off to a 2-0 lead. They were followed by Jizel and Gemma who won their matches comfortably securing Surrey's place in the qualifying final against Essex.
Surrey started well in the final with Kung winning comfortably in two sets and Elisa battling hard in a 3 hour match and finally winning 6-3 in the third. Jizel playing two singles played very well despite carrying a shoulder injury and narrowly losing 7-5 7-5. Gemma Heath wrapped up her match in less than an hour to give Surrey a 3-1 lead, and it was Alessandra and Kung that won the match and qualified Surrey for the Nationals in Nottingham. Surrey eventually beat Essex 5-1.
Nationals
In the group stages Surrey would play Hampshire, Lancashire and Kent and would need to beat all three to make the finals. The first match was against Hampshire and Surrey got off to a great start with Kung and Elisa winning both matches comfortably in two sets. Alessandra would play number two filling in for the injured Jizel and performed brilliantly under pressure winning 6-3, 6-2 to give Surrey a 3-0 lead. Gemma Heath had a fantastic match narrowly losing 7-5 in the third at number one. It would be Alessandra and Eloise that would win the match for Surrey beating Hampshire's number two pair in straight sets. Surrey won the match 4-2. Surrey would next play Lancashire and had to dig deep to win the singles with both Jizel and Eloise being injured during the match and managing still to win both matches. Gemma and Alessandra would win their singles giving Surrey an unassailable 4-0 lead. Surrey wrapped up both the doubles to win the match 6-0 and set up a play off for the final against Kent.
The match was incredibly close from the start with Kung winning at number four and Elisa narrowly losing 6-2 in the third at number three. At number two Alessandra played a great match with chances in the first set but lost closely to Phoebe Watson. Gemma Heath kept Surrey in the game with a 3 hour match against Sasha Hill finally winning 6-7, 7-6, 6-3. Surrey and Kent would split the doubles sending the match and a place in the final to a Championship Tiebreak Shoot-out. Gemma Heath & Kung Phimlee showed great determination to beat Sasha Hill and Abby Taylor and book Surrey's place in the final against Middlesex winning 10-6.
Final
Surrey started the final in great fashion with Elisa winning at number three 6-2, 6-1, and Kung came close to giving Surrey a 2-0 lead, but eventually losing to their number four 6-4 in the third. Alessandra played her best singles of the tournament giving Surrey a 2-1 lead, with a straight sets win over Essence Martins. Gemma would give Surrey a 3-1 lead, winning her singles 6-2, 6-1. Surrey lead the match 3-1 over Middlesex going into the doubles. However, Surrey had now lost Gemma Heath to injury, meaning that three players weren't eligible for the doubles due to injury- Jizel, Eloise and Gemma. Fortunately Freya Hampton-Evans showed her commitment to Surrey by traveling up early Saturday morning and giving Surrey the opportunity to field a full doubles team. Freya and Elisa would play two doubles and Alessandra and Kung would move up and play one doubles.
Middlesex would get off to the better start winning the first set in both doubles and going onto win the number two doubles match, making the score Surrey 3-2 Middlesex. Kung and Alessandra were able to claw back and win the second set 6-4 and take the match into a championship tiebreak. Kung and Alessandra had done fantastically well to take the match to a third set against pairing that combined ratings were three above them, but they fought hard and were able to pull off the tiebreak of the championship winning 10-5 and with that winning Surrey the County Cup Championship.
A special mention needs to go to Kung Phimlee and Alessandra Ruggieri who were called upon time and time again to play matches for the injured players. Not only did they do that but nearly always came back with the win and were an integral part of Surrey winning County Cup.
I would like to thank Kung Phimlee, Gemma Heath, Alessandra Ruggieri, Elisa Van Meeteren, Jizel Matos-Sequeira Fernandes, Freya Hampton-Evans and Eloise Saraty for their commitments to the Surrey County Cup Team this Year.