Neptune British Open Doubles Championships
Sunday 14th April - Final
B.Snell & N.James (2) bt J.Stout & M.Gooding (1) 18/14 11/15 16/17 15/9 9/15 15/8 retired
The match ended when Jamie Stout decided he could not carry on into a deciding 7th game due to an ankle injury incurred very early in the match and made worse by a secondary incident on the same ankle later in the match. After just short of 3 hours of fascinating and extraordinary rackets this was a sad conclusion to a match that was full of scintillating rackets and high drama, with Mike Gooding defending valiantly, and his World Singles Champion partner showing the magical ability to hit almost unreal winners from all over the court in a way that makes him a candidate, along with perhaps James Male and Geoffrey Atkins, as the greatest exponent ever in history of the game of Rackets. The gallery witnessed countless rallies of breathtaking brilliance and Ben Snell and Nick James were worthy winners of an intriguing contest. Ben and Nick tried their hardest to keep Jamie from dominating from the centre of the court, and Mike’s ability to keep getting the ball back into play gave his partner the opportunities to get into the rallies and power the ball past, or through, Ben and Nick, often producing from nowhere the unexpected reverse angle that elicited the error, or created the outright winner. Trying to keep the ball away from an outstanding opponent, by putting his partner under continual pressure is always difficult, but Ben and Nick got the balance just about right, and Mike, as the real tennis specialist thrown into the ringside with 3 rackets experts, got so much back, and served sufficiently cleverly that the seventh game, had it taken place, was wide open had Jamie been operating on 2 full legs! Ben and Nick should be congratulated on a memorable first major championship win, and their success against the US Open Champions augurs well for a fascinating 2013/14 season once the up-coming World Challenge between holders Tim Cockroft and Alex Titchener-Barrett, and challengers James Coyne and Will Hopton is decided over the next two Saturdays in Chicago and at Queen’s.
Friday 12th April Semi Finals
J.Stout & M.Gooding (1) bt M.Bailey & S.Knight 11/15 13/18 15/10 7/15 15/7 15/4 15/7
B.Snell & N.James (2) bt R.Fahey & G.Smith-Bingham (3) 15/1 15/2 15/7 15/3
Thursday 11th April
QF B.Snell & N.James (2) bt J.Bailey & P.Maxwell 9/15 15/12 15/0 15/0 15/0
QF R.Fahey & G.Smith-Bingham (3) bt R.Offord & J.Rowland-Clark w/o
Wednesday 10th April
QF J.Stout & M.Gooding (1) bt R.Tulley & A.Coldicott 15/7 12/15 16/14 17/14 15/11
R.Fahey & G.Smith-Bingham (3) bt A.Gourlay & C.Braithwaite 15/0 15/7 16/13 15/0
QF M.Bailey & S.Knight bt S.Higson & M.Silcock 15/7 15/2 15/12 15/8
Tuesday 9th April
J.Stout & M.Gooding (1) bt P.Sutton & W.Morse 15/9 15/1 15/9 15/12
B.Snell & N.James (2) vs D.Wright & T.Seymour-Mead 15/0 15/2 15/4 15/4
Sunday 7th April
S.Higson & M.Silcock bt A.Orchard & D.Makey w/o
J.Bailey & P.Maxwell bt N.Navapurkar & O.Cooke 15/5 15/5 15/1 16/13
M.Bailey & S.Knight bt S.Shenkman & R.McNaughtan 15/6 15/10 15/1 15/3
R.Offord & J.Rowland-Clark bt R.Spender & C.Danby 15/1 15/7 18/14 8/15 15/10
Saturday 6th April
S.Higson & M.Silcock bt J.Fuller & R.Ramsay 15/9 15/11 11/15 10/15 11/15 15/4 15/7
S.Shenkman & R.McNaughtan bt A.Judd & C.Hammond 10/15 15/2 15/10 15/2 15/6
R.Tulley & A.Coldicott bt P.Sutton & T.Stevens 15/6 15/0 15/4 15/4
R.Offord & J.Rowland-Clark bt O.Harris & N.Stamp 15/6 15/6 15/6 15/1
Friday 5th April
N.Navapurkar & O.Cooke bt D.Dundas & M.Higney 11/15 15/8 15/4 15/0 6/15 18/13
D.Wright & T.Seymour-Mead bt A.Lyons & A.Fowler 15/4 15/7 17/14 15/12
Thursday 4th April
P.Sutton & T.Stevens bt A.Holbourn & R.Sutton 15/7 15/9 15/3 15/5
D.Wright & T.Seymour-Mead bt J.Briggs & M.Agate 15/11 15/2 15/1 15/11
Wednesday 3rd April
A.Gourlay & C.Braithwaite bt M.Seeley & B.Graves 15/10 15/10 15/3 15/13
See the draw here