* Manchester Gold Racquet 2023

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In the competition's largest draw since 2011, 32 players descended upon the North West of England for the 51^st Manchester Gold Racquet sponsored by Consumer Credit Solutions. With 5 entrants from North America, the world champion Ben Cawston and World Doubles challenger Mike Bailey among the entrants, this was one of the strongest fields in years. Streaming supremo Ben Geytenbeek was also on hand to broadcast every match to Youtube, in the first rackets matches to be streamed in Manchester since the Amateur Singles in 2011!

The Singles tournament began in earnest on Friday with the pick of the first round matches being a stunning win for Real Tennis star Max Trueman in saving match points before overcoming George Acheson-Gray 21/20. In the second round, home professional Darren Long went down valiantly to Philadelphia’s Henry Smith 15/11 in the 3^rd game and Julius Manton-Jones was given a fright in his first game by Bertie Vallat before securing a clinical 15/12 15/9 victory. Hundreds of hours of practice in preparation for the tournament no doubt gave Manton-Jones the edge in what could be a common match-up in future main draws. In Friday’s doubles matches all matches went to form although Theo Taylor and Oscar Butcher won a tight match against Magnus Garson and Acheson-Gray before the final ball was struck at around 12.30am after a marathon first day.

Saturday brought about the quarter finals in both the singles and doubles events. USA’s prodigal son Freddie Bristowe had a superb 3 game win over Manton-Jones which thrilled the mid-afternoon spectators. Ben Cawston and Will Hopton also cruised through to the semi finals with straightforward victories over Robert Shenkman and Henry Smith. In the doubles, all the matches went to according to seedings which produced some excellent semi final match ups.

Cawston and Bailey were far too strong for Bristowe and Smith, winning easily 15/2 15/2 and therefore barely dropping 10 points on their way to the final. The other semi final was far from straightforward. The A/B pairing of Will Hopton and 2007 singles winner Simon Shenkman on paper appeared the favourites against Manton-Jones and Annetts but some excellent serving from the Queens pair took the match to a deciding 3^rd game. In the end Hopton was able to dominate the final game in front of a packed evening gallery.

In the singles semi finals, Ben Cawston then defeated Bristowe 3-0, showing his class once again on the Manchester court. Will Hopton was also able to overcome world #9 Will Annetts 3-0 in a match which took place during the first 2 courses of the tournament dinner!

The Sunday finals day saw plate matches begin at 7.40am before the main draw finals! Ben Cawston won his 4^th Manchester Gold Racquet title in a match which did not do the scoreline justice. Superb retrieving from Hopton kept Cawston at bay throughout the match but exceptional backhand power from Cawston gave him the edge in all three games. One backhand pick down the line in the 3^rd game will live long in the memory as Cawston deservedly carried off the trophy 3-0.

In the doubles the world doubles challengers were also the deserved winners 3-0, with Mike Bailey being exceptionally solid on the forehand side and Cawston showing his characteristic flair throughout. Shenkman and Hopton played their part though, with many long and explosive rallies characterising the match. It was postulated after the match whether Simon Shenkman at 59, was to be one of the oldest players ever in a major doubles final – with the history books no doubt needing to be consulted.

Immense thanks were given to Consumer Credit Solutions for sponsoring the 2023 Gold Racquet, without whom the event could not have gone ahead. Thanks also were given to Darren Long, Valla Scott-Geddes and Sam Matthews for shouldering the majority of the marking. It is hoped that a similarly strong draw will come to Manchester next year for the 52^nd edition of the Gold Racquet!