South Warks Junior Summer Tennis Cup

Defending champions Shipston-on-Stour, together with H.D.A. Redditch have both qualified for the final of the Widney Sports League Junior Tennis Cup, following keenly contested Semi-Final Play-offs. Bidford Tennis Club hosted the event and once again supplied excellent refreshments. The weather stayed dry for the evening as the teams that had each topped the six group stages played off for the chance to reach the Junior Cup Final at the Men’s Pairs Tournament at Stratford Lawn Tennis Club on Sunday 28^th August

Group A saw Henley-in-Arden A reach the semi-finals in quick time as their pairing of Fraser Kent & Christopher Silk recorded wins over Studley B by 4 games to 1 and over Littletons by 4-0. Littleton’s Henry Talbot and Craig Witheford then secured the runner-up spot with a 4-2 win over Studley B’s Tom Harvey & Harry Fullard. In Group B, Shipston’s Rory Ashton & Edward Briggs opened with a 4-2 victory over the Henley B pairing of Oliver Didlick & Oliver Richardson. Henley B then bowed out of the competition as they went down by the narrowest of margins, 4-5 against H.D.A’s Matthew Cutler and Oliver Stratford. The Group B decider saw Cutler and Stratford stage a remarkable recovery from 0-3 down, saving three match points and winning five successive games to defeat Shipston by 5-3.

The semi-final rubbers themselves saw Shipston recover from their earlier setback to ease past the Henley A pair of Kent & Silk by 4-1, while on the other court, H.D.A. proved too strong for the younger Littletons pairing, winning comfortably by 4-0. H.D.A. and Shipston therefore go forward to play a best of three sets final in front of a large audience at Stratford-Upon-Avon at the annual Summer League Pairs tournament in August.