Inter-School Team Singles Championships 12 December
Inter-School Team Singles Champs Results 12/12/2010 (Inaugural Trophy)
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Tournament winners Radley A |
�Tom Buckley & Dan Brownlee |
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This inaugural competition (involving teams of two singles players, each playing their opposite number from each school) was eventually won by Radley A (Tom Buckley & Dan Brownlee) by a whisker from Honywood (Lewis Williams & Will Shortridge of Prested) on games won/lost ratio, a decision not reached until the final set of the day when the 5 games lost by Will Shortridge to Jess Garside (Portsmouth GS) proved crucial. Earlier, Tom Buckley's 6-5 win over Lewis Williams was equally crucial, as might have been Dan Brownlee's loss 5-6 to Gus McAlpine (Radley B).
Freddie Kalfayan (the talented Clifton No.1) played some lovely tennis, but semed to start each set quite slowly against both Buckley & Williams and never quite recovered either set though won his ohter two. Ben Boddington, at 1st string for Radley B, played really well to gain substantial leads over Buckley (4-1), Williams (3-1) and Freddie Kalfayan but could not quite convert them to sets, while Giles Gunning (the youngest 1st string on show for Portsmouth) played some excellent tennis throughout but with little reward, as did the Portsmouth No.2, Jess Garside (the only female competitor), who did manage one win, ironically against the athletic, and otherwise successful, Dan Brownlee.
John Whitaker (Clifton), Will Shortridge (Honywood) and Gus McAlpine (Radley B) also shared some highly competitive sets, with a full half-hour (and no knock-up) being needed throughout for each set. That only one player (Tom Buckley) finished unbeaten and that only one player had none was evidence of the competitive nature of the event.
I hope that this unusual team singles event will be the first of many, though time consuming, as it seemed to be much enjoyed by all competitors.
Results
1st� Radley A��������� 6 sets Games 45/25����������� Tom Buckley & Dan Brownlee
2nd Honywood��������6 sets Games 46/31����������� Lewis Williams & Will Shortridge
3rd Clifton������������� 4 sets Games 34/37����������� Fred Kalfayan & John Whitaker
4th Radley B���������� 4 sets Games 37/40����������� Ben Boddington & Gus McAlpine
5th Portsmouth GS���1 set� Games 17/46����������� Giles Gunning & Jess Garside