National Schools Invitation Real Tennis Singles Championships 2017/18
A Grade (Radley)
Three preliminary groups were won by the three top seeds (Ned Batstone & Benedict Yorston of Radley and Freddie Bristowe of Wellington), though Batstone was shocked by Charlie Vleck (Wellington) as he started slowly, but still qualified on games as Vleck then lost to Huw Thomas (Portsmouth GS) in the final game.
Bristowe was 0-3 down to Purton (Radley) in similar fashion before recovering. Yorston’s path was rather smoother as he demolished both Flynn (Hayling) and Smart (Eton). Harry Purton then lost 2nd place to Ed Crowston (Radley) in a final game thriller, but played well to win his final group, beating Thomas and Smart fairly comfortably.
Vleck won his secondary group to claim 4th place overall with solid wins over Crowston and Flynn, whose splendid battle just fell 6/5 to Will Flynn.
The top group saw a final triumph by Ned Batstone, who beat both Yorston and Bristowe, against whom the final match of the day was won 6/3 by Ned, though neither man played quite their best. Arguably the best tennis of the day was in the set won 6/3 by the very talented Bristowe against Ben Yorston, who was really rather unlucky to only finish 3rd overall. Batstone’s determined approach, though, and ability to maintain his focus was probably crucial and brought him a well deserved title.
B Grade (Wellington)
Preliminary groups were won by Rags Kanwar, (Wellington) who beat George Bishop (Radley) and Bastien van der Zwalmen (Clifton) in two very well contested games. Bishop beat van der Zwalmen for 2nd spot.
Max Wetton (Radley) won the second group beating Jack Chesser (Clifton) and the talented young Max Jones (Hayling), who threatened a serious comeback from 1-5 down to reach 6-6 before losing 6/8. Oliver Jameson won group 3, beating Orlando Mallinson (Wellington) and Max Jardine-Brown (Radley), the latter from 0-4 down. Jardine-Brown managed to recover his form, though, to beat Mallinson for 2nd place.
The final group was very closely contested, though. Kanwar played two fine sets but lost both 5/8, leaving Wetton and Jameson to contest the title in the final set of the day. Wetton came through in the end by 8/5 after trailing 0-3 and 2-4 in the early stages. His ability to maintain a cool head under pressure and to keep the ball on the floor was just enough, but more will be heard from young Jameson in years to come.
For planning purposes the entry form for the Interschool Doubles (4 and 25 February) is here