rackets Fixture

Under 21 & Under 24 Open Singles & Doubles 2011

Download the completed Draw

This year's U21s and U24s championships were held away from their usual home due to the ongoing gallery reconstruction work at the Queen's Club. Eton College's 2 wonderful courts proved to be an excellent replacement venue. It was extremely kind of the school to host us and particular thanks must go to the Tony Little (the Headmaster) and to Peter Brake.

Once again over 50 players entered which is a testament to the high level of interest in rackets amongst recent school leavers and the organisational efforts of Will Hopton. Will was a constant presence at the courts throughout the championships, which included some very long hours of play!

Saturday and Sunday were particularly full days with matches running from early in the morning until close to midnight! Both courts were in use for the majority of the time and plenty of good matches were played. The pick of the early rounds were Julius Cowdrey's encounter with Andy Corridan and Horatio Cary and Chris Stefanowicz's battle with Rod Shephard and James Fuller. Corridan saved 8 match points before beating Cowdrey and Cary/Stefanowicz somehow defeated Shephard/Fuller 18/17 in 5th game after James and Rod wasted 5 opportunities to win the game themselves!

Sunday evening saw most of the singles quarter-finals take place. Tom Billings did well to defeat Dan Shiner in the U21 singles and Sam Northeast put up a great fight against Christian Portz before succumbing in U24 singles.

Monday was semi-finals day and Ryan Tulley kindly came over from Wellington to assist with the marking. The first match of the day saw Nick James defeat Christian Portz in 4 games. This was a high quality encounter in which Christian actually won more points than Nick. However credit is due to James for winning each of his games in the set. This put Nick into the U24 singles final to face Will Hopton. Hopton booked his place in the final by Tom Stevens. However this wasn't a comfortable victory as Stevens won the opening game and established a healthy lead in the second before Hopton was able to turn the tables and win in 4 games. Elsewhere Tom Billings continued his good form to reach the U21 singles by defeating Alex Portz. Christian Portz joined him in the final by eliminating his former school doubles partner Sean Knight. However Sean fought hard and took the match to 5 games. This did leave Sean rather tired for his U21 doubles semi-finals, which ultimately ended in another 5 game defeat as he and Jack Shields were beaten by Henry Faber and Ben Stevens.

Tuesday saw the last of the semi-finals played out being the 4 finals took place. Peter Brake oversaw the marking duties for over 8 hours! In the day's opening match Nick James and Sam Northeast overcame the Manchester due of Dan Shiner and Tom Stevens in another fantastic 5 game match. This put them into the U24 doubles final to face Will Hopton and Tom Billings. Will and Tom had comfortably won their semi-final on Monday against Horatio Cary and Chris Stefanowicz. The first final saw Christian Portz retain him U21 singles title by defeating Tom Billings. Billings competed well and had chances at game ball in 2nd game to level the match. However once he missed the opportunity to equalise Portz was too strong and wrapped up the match. Christian was immediately back in action alongside his brother Alex in the U21 doubles final. They were just too strong for Henry Faber and Ben Stevens. Henry and Ben had a game point in 4th game to extend the match into a decider but a double fault from Faber proved decisive and allowed the Portz brothers to capture another title together. Next up Will Hopton faced Nick James in the U24 singles final. Hopton stormed into a 2 game lead before James hit back with a succession on devastating winners during 3rd game. The fourth game was a titanic battle with the players never separated by more than a couple of points until Hopton put together a winning run from 10/11 down. It was a match much enjoyed by those who braved the perils of the cold gallery! Finally it was time for the last match of the championships, the Under 24 doubles final between Hopton/Billings and James/Northeast. The standard of this game was incredibly high but the consistency and precision of Will and Tom proved to be too much for their opponents. Hopton and Billings know each other’s games extremely well after hours of practice at Haileybury last season and this showed through as they won in straight games despite Nick and Sam’s best efforts.

A huge thank you to Neptune to for their continued support of the event, to Chris Davies for coming to present the prizes on Finals Day, to Peter Brake and Ryan Tulley for their help with the marking and stringing and finally to Will Hopton for overseeing another great championships! An exhausting few days….but bring on December 2012!!

Results:

Tuesday 20th

Final C.Portz bt T.Billings U21 S 15/8,15/14,15/3

Final C.Portz + A.Portz bt H.Faber + B.Stevens U21 D 11/15,15/6,15/9,17/16

Final W.Hopton bt N.James U24 S 15/9,15/3,6/15,15/11

Final W.Hopton + T.Billings vs. N.James + S.Northeast U24 D 15/6,15/2,15/4

Semi-Final James + Northeast bt Shiner + T.Stevens U24 D 15/0,10/15,16/13,8/15,15/5

Monday 19th

Semi-Final James bt C.Portz 16/13,18/13.1/15,18/13 U24 S

Semi-Final W.Hopton + T.Billings bt Cary + Stefanowitz 15/8,15/0,15/2 U24 D

Semi-Final Billings bt A.Portz 15/17,15/11,15/4,15/6 U21 S

Semi-Final C.Potz bt Knight 16/17,15/5,14/18,15/9,15/4 U21 S

Semi-Final Faber + B.Stevens bt Knight + Shields 9/15,15/10,15/9,6/15,15/0 U21 D

Semi-Final Hopton vs.T.Stevens 10/15,15/11,15/5,15/4 U24S

Sunday 18th

Fuller + Shephard bt Shields + Spurling U24 D w/o

Quarter-Final W.Hopton bt B.Stevens U24 S 15/7,15/1

Cary + Stefanowicz bt Fuller + Shephard U24 D 14/17,15/11,17/14,1/15,18/17

Rowland Clark bt Knight U24 S 15/9,15/10

Portz + Portz bt Atkins + Corcoran U21 D 15/4,15/6,15/8

T.Stevens bt Fuller U24 S 16/17,17/14,15/11

Rowland Clark + Offord bt Barber + Bingham U24 D 15/1,15/0,15/9

Shiner bt F.Cowdrey U24 S 13/15,15/5,15/7

James bt Faber U24 S 15/9,15/4

Cox + Corridan bt Spurling + Spurling U21 D w/o

C.Portz bt Corridan U21 S 15/11,15/1

Cox bt N.Spurling U21 S w/o

James + Northeast bt Telling + Murray U24 D 15/4,15/6,15/7

Knight bt F.Cowdrey U21 S 12/15,15/7,15/4

B.Stevens bt Evans U21 S 15/7,15/9

Clarke bt T.Spurling U21 S w/o

Rowland Clark bt J.Cowdrey U24 S 15/10,15/3

Northeast bt Shields U24 S 15/11,15/3

Shiner + Stevens bt Rowland Clark + Offord U24 D 9/15,15/13,18/14,4/15,15/5

Billings bt A.Portz U24 S 15/8,15/6

Faber + Stevens bt Cowdrey + Cowdrey U21 D 15/3,15/9,18/14

Knight + Shields bt Kula + Evans U21 D 15/5,15/10,15/10

Shiner bt Corcoran U21 S 15/6,15/9

A.Portz bt Cox U21 S 15/4,17/16

C.Portz bt Rowland Clark U24 S 15/6,15/8

Quarter-Final Knight bt Clarke U21 S 15/4,15/7

Quarter-Final James bt Shiner U24 S 15/7,15/8

Quarter-Final A.Portz bt Faber U21 S 15/8,12/15,15/10

Quarter-Final C.Portz bt B.Stevens U21 S 15/6,15/13

Quarter-Final Billings bt Shiner U21 S 9/15,15/7,15/3

Quarter-Final T.Stevens bt Billings U24 S 15/11,15/4

Quarter-Final C.Portz bt Northeast U24 S 15/11,15/12

Semi-Final Portz + Portz bt Cox + Corridan U21D 15/2,15/5,15/6

Saturday 17th December

Dundas + Harris bt Elliott + Pickard U24 D 15/13,6/15,15/1,15/3

Bingham bt Simkins U24 S 15/8,12/15,15/0

Atkins + Corcoran bt Elliott + Pickard U21 D 15/12,8/15,15/8,9/15,15/4

Cox bt Kula U24 S 15/6,16/15

Ramasamy bt Hill U24 S 15/5,15/5

B.Stevens bt Shephard U24 S 15/12,15/8

Clarke bt Atkins U21 S 15/5,10/15,15/12

Kay bt Pickard U21 S 15/3,16/13

Telling bt Wilson U24 S w/o

Always bt Stefanowicz U24 S 15/3,15/13

Corridan bt J.Cowdrey U21 S 15/8,9/15,17/14

Kula bt Britton U21 S w/o

F.Cowdrey bt Kula U21 S 15/3,15/5

Billings bt Kay U21 S 15/8,15/3

Telling + Murray bt Hill + Simkins U24 D 5/15,15/8,15/4,15/10

Clarke bt Barber U24 S 15/4,15/0

Hopton + Billings bt Dundas + Harris U24 D 15/8,15/5,15/1

Faber bt Johnson U21 S 15/12,15/9

B.Stevens bt Cox U24 S 15/11,15/6

J.Cowdrey bt Murray U24 S 5/15,15/14,15/0

F.Cowdrey bt Clarke U24 S 15/5,15/8

Shields bt Ramasamy U24 S 15/4,15/1

Faber bt Bingham U24 S 15/2,14/16,15/1

Fuller bt Telling U24 S 15/6,15/1

B.Stevens bt Offord U24 S 15/10,15/7

Cowdrey + Cowdrey bt Britton + Clarke U21 D 15/7,10/15,16/13,15/8

W.Hopton bt Always U24 S 15/0,15/2

Friday 16th December

Evans bt Britton U24 S w/o

Clarke bt Elliott U21 S 11/15,15/3,15/2

Dundas + Harris bt Lumley + Wilson U24 D 15/7,15/7,15/6

Kula + Evans bt Kay + Ward U21 D 15/5,15/9,15/5

Finlayson bt Lumley U21 S 15/5,15/5

Stefanowicz bt Evans U24 S 17/15,5/15,15/9

Johnson bt Ramasamy U21 S 17/15,15/2

Cary bt Dundas U24 S 15/12,13/15,15/4

Evans bt Finlayson U21 S 16/17,15/7,15/11

Harris bt J.Hopton U21 S 12/15,17/15,15/12

Corcoran bt Harris U21 S 15/12,10/15,15/9

Johnson + Ghaidan bt Finlayson + Hopton U21 D 15/5,15/2,15/7

Billings bt Cary U24 S 17/14,15/13

Cox + Corridan bt Johnson + Ghaidan U21 D 15/7,12/15,15/6,15/13