Manchester Gold Racquet 2022

The 50^th Manchester Gold Racquet sponsored by QBS Software comprised comfortably the youngest field that the tournament has seen in its long history. Graced by the presence of the world number 1 Ben Cawston and a multitude of talented schoolboy and u26 players, an intriguing tournament was to be in store.

With all of the players arriving on the Friday, the singles tournament began with Cheltenham assistant Rob Horn edging past wily veteran Manny Tancer 17/14 in the final game and Foster Cup hopeful Bertie Vallat defeating Queens fellow George Acheson-Gray in two tight games. In the last 16 all of the matches went according to seedings but contained no shortage of drama. In the pick of the matches James Rossiter couldn’t quite steal a game from the improving Julius Manton-Jones and in a late night clash, junior Real Tennis world champion Max Trueman showed his obvious talent in pushing Patrick McCourt all the way. In the doubles first rounds, the St Pauls pair of Rossiter and Livesey were impressive in dispatching Jack Mitchell and Pete Nicholson and the eclectic pairing of Finn Kirkland and Henry Stevinson gelled superbly to defeat McCourt and Acheson-Gray 18/14 in the 3^rd in a match that finished at 12.15am!

Saturday brought about the quarter finals in both the singles and doubles events. In the bottom half of the draw there were a number of upsets. Old Haileyburian Dylan Kent displayed significant flair and use of reverse angles to defeat number 2 seed Theo Taylor 15/8 15/9 and Manton-Jones then defeated number 3 seed Oscar Butcher in straight games to leave the draw wide open. In the top half, Ben Cawston was remorseless and in scintillating form in beating McCourt 2-0 and in a lung-bursting battle Robert Shenkman outlasted Will Annetts 15/11 in the 3^rd. With the top 4 seeds all reaching the doubles semi finals, Cawston and Ryan Tulley were too strong for the father/son Shenkman pairing and Annetts and Manton-Jones continued their good form in defeating Taylor and Butcher. Cawston and Manton-Jones then completed the singles final lineup, both players winning in straight games.

The Sunday finals day saw George Acheson-Gray winning the singles plate 2-1 against Will Taylor and Acheson-Gray also carried off the doubles plate title alongside Patrick McCourt in defeating Pete Nicholson and Jack Mitchell. Ben Cawston then swept past Manton-Jones with consummate ease 15/2 15/0 15/4 to claim his third Gold Racquet. In the doubles final, many predicted a comfortable win for Cawston and Tulley however on a bouncy Manchester court Manton-Jones and Annetts proved a formidable pair. After losing the first game and coming back to lead 2/1, Cawston and Tulley appeared to be in the ascendency. Yet, with Annetts rock solid on the forehand wall and with Manton-Jones serving well, they clawed their way back to force a decider. At 10/2 up a major upset appeared to be on the cards however Cawston showed his class in taking complete control of the match. Slowly but surely Cawston and Tulley levelled the scores then finished off the match in excellent style to claim the doubles title 15/10 in the 5th.

Thanks were given to QBS Software for sponsoring the event and to Darren Long and Rob Horn who shouldered the burden of the marking during the weekend. It is hoped that a similarly strong field will travel to Manchester in 2023 for the next Gold Racquet!

*Write-up by Rob Shenkman

Click here to see the Singles and Doubles Draws.