Category D Singles 2022 Report
Mar 18, 2022 - Mar 20, 2022 Hatfield House J Dawes
Hatfield once again hosted the Category D Singles Tournament for players between 30-39 handicap over the weekend of 19th/20th March and with numbers a little lower than usual we had to rely on quality rather than quantity.
In the 35-39 section 8 players in total did battle and there was even an international feel to the event as William Holmberg travelled over from Paris to take his place and the journey was a worthwhile one as he battled past local Hatfield member Andrew James 4/6 6/2 6/4, before coming unstuck against the relentless retrieving of Chris Lintott from Oxford 6/1 6/3 in a match that was far closer than the score suggests. In the Final Chris would go on to meet Steve Brewerton, who had won through the all-Hatfield Semi-Final earlier in the day against Chris Handley 6/3 6/4, in a match that contained some ridiculous rallies with both players putting their local knowledge to good use! The final was more of the same as Chris got the most incredible gets from start to finish, putting Steve under immense pressure and eventually holding out 6/4 6/1 in another match that was much closer than the score suggests.
In the 30-34 section 2 late withdrawals meant we were down to only 5 players with Nick Brodie winning through the only Quarter-Final 6/3 5/6 6/2 against James Kempton of Oxford in a fantastic, hard-fought match. In the Semi-Final Nick faced Ed Buxton from Queens who was a bit of a different level and was relentless with his cut and pace on the ball and whatever Nick did, Ed seemed to have an answer to. It was another of those matches on the day which was a lot closer than the score suggests, which was a real theme throughout, but Ed eventually won through 6/0 6/3 where he would face Patrick Lawrence in the final. Patrick had earlier taken on Alex Machin, the IiP trainee from Wellington, in a match of real contrasting styles. Alex is clearly a very talented player, still very new to the game and while he has a fantastic technique, he probably hasn’t come up against an unconventional style such as Patrick’s before and he struggled to get any real consistency going, while still showing what obvious talent he has and that he is definitely one to watch going forward. Patrick progressed to the final 6/2 6/3 but again the second set in particular could have gone either way. The final again was a match of contrasting styles with Patrick’s brutal hitting from all over the court and ability to put various spin on the ball making life tricky for Ed but he more often than not had the answer to the questions Patrick set him and while there were numerous long, drawn out deuce games, Ed finally took the match 6/2 6/2 for a well deserved success.
