Chetwood Trophy 2017
The 2017 Chetwood Trophy was a true representation of club tennis in the UK with handicaps ranging from 15 to 70, and participants hailing from as far away as Manchester, Newcastle, and Newmarket to congregate in the South West.
Ben Turner after a long journey from Newmarket, set a high standard on Friday evening winning with a clean sweep. Michael Pescod representing MCC also put in a solid performance to go through as the top runner-up of the weekend.
Saturday Morning saw the closest group of the weekend. Paul Wright of RTC was beaten by Alan Moug of Moreton Morrell in the only level game of the tournament, but both players went through to the quarter-finals with the narrowest margins separating them.
Hampton Court and Moreton Morrell showed strength in depth in the second group of the day with Giles Doy (RTC) winning the group comprehensively and Mark Savage (MM) clinching the final runners-up place.
Saturday evening saw the lowest handicaps of the tournament with Phil Dunn playing off 15 having to play one serve and banned tambour against the reigning champion Huw Thomas. Huw, the youngest player in the tournament, took full advantage, winning all three of his group matches.
In the final and smallest group of the weekend Bruce Morrison from Oxford put in a solid performance to win both of his 8 game sets and seal his place in the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals had a set pattern, where the four more experienced players succumbed to the rapidly dropping handicaps of their younger opponents. A special mention should be made for Mark Savage who took all of his opponents to 5 games, but was narrowly pipped by Bruce Morrison. The semi's saw Ben Turner have an epic battle against Huw Thomas of Seacourt, but Huw just missed out on the opportunity to re-claim his title in a an 8-7 nail-biter. Bruce Morrison had a tough time against Giles Doy who fought for every point, but Bruce held his nerve to see himself into the Final.
After a long weekend of tennis, we had whittled through some of the toughest competitors in club tennis and we were left with Ben Turner and Bruce Morrison. Ben fought valiantly but Bruce saved his finest form for the final and thoroughly deserved his victory. For all the scores please follow this link:
A special mention should go to James Lindrup and Henry Stevinson who drove down from Manchester and Tony Harrison and Mark Dickinson who made the epic Journey from Jesmond Dene. I would like to thank everyone who took part in the tournament, including the family members who travelled down in support, for making the effort to visit The Hyde Tennis Club. Thank you also to the T&RA who make these tournaments possible. Finally well done Bruce Morrison, a worthy winner of the 2017 Chetwood Trophy!!
Ben Turner (Newmarket) left, Bruce Morrison (Oxford) right.