* Category B Open Championship (Level Singles for Handicaps 10-19) 2021

15- 19 Competition

Unfortunately a couple of late withdrawals changed the format for the 15-19’s, but this didn’t mean things got any easier for the players.

James Law (Hatfield) and Ged Parsons (Prested) got the tournament underway on Saturday morning. The game started close, but Law was volleying superbly and combined with some excellent floor play quickly closed out the match 6/2 6/1. Chris Aley (Leamington) then took to the court with Alex Dyter (Jesmond Dene) and quickly wrapped up the first set 6/0, however Dyter started to find his feet in the match and responded by taking the second set 6/4. The third set was tight throughout until Aley started to win the big points towards the end of the set and won out 6/4.

Saturday afternoon saw Law maintain his level from the morning session and quickly saw off Dyter 6/3 6/1. Aley continued to win the right points at the right time in his afternoon game against Parsons, both sets started out close until Aley came through 6/4 6/3.

Finals Day

The seeding worked its way out and left Alex Dyter and Ged Parsons battling it out in the 3rd place playoff. They had a titanic battle in the 2019 competition, and it was no different this time. Dyter’s retrieval was relentless and it took all of Parsons’ experience to battle through the first set 6/4. Dyter continued to retrieve everything, whilst taking his grille tally towards 20 and the pressure that created allowed him to respond 6/2 in the second. The pairing didn’t disappoint in the 3rd set, with both players upping their level and taking the set all the way, with Dyter just edging it 6/5.

A regular fixture at the Cat B tournament, familiar foes Chris Aley and James Law were facing off for the 15-19 title. Law started quickly and ran through the first set 6/1, the second set was a tighter affair and Aley started to take control of the match midway through taking the last 3 games to level at 1 set all. He continued that run into the 3rd set, and things looked like they were drawing to a conclusion at 4/0 up, but Law had other ideas and battled back to take the match to another deciding game. There were some fantastic points throughout the game especially when the score moved past deuce, neither player getting away with a cheap point. The fightback from Law came just short though and Chris Aley took his 2nd 15-19 title.

10-14 Competition

The players were seeded into 2 groups of 3, playing the best of 4 game sets. The first match was a superb battle between Luke Danby (Seacourt) and Mark Mathias (Hyde), which set the tone for the rest of the weekend. It was obvious from the quality of play that both players had been low single figure handicaps recently. It went to a deciding game in the 3rd set, and finding himself 40/15 down Mathias pulled off some amazing shots to take the win.

Danby was back on court in the next group match against Jonny Whitaker (Queen’s), and it started evenly, but after the first 4 games being shared he quickly pulled away only dropping 1 more game to win 4/2 4/1. This set things up nicely for the final game with Mathias needing to win to progress to the final, any other result would likely see Danby progress. Things were looking good for The Hyde player at 4/2 2/0 up, but as in the first match he dropped 6 games in a row to find himself 2/0 down in the 3rd. Once again it came down to a deciding game, but Mathias took control early and took the match and move into the final.

The second group wasn’t quite as close as the number 1 seed Levi Gale (Hyde,Oratory) eased through only dropping 5 games. Both his matches started evenly, but home court knowledge and some spicy forcing saw him pull away. In the other match Lewis Williams (Prested) edged a tight first set against talented 18 year old Will Flynn (Seacourt), but then moved through the gears in the second set with some great match play to set up a 3rd place playoff against Danby.

Finals Day

Will Flynn and Jonny Whitaker faced off in the 5th place playoff to start the 10-14’s finals day. Flynn started superbly, demonstrating a dazzling array of attacking tennis, combined with some superb defence to take the first set 6/2. He is most definitely a talent to watch in the next few years. But for today it was Whitaker’s superior match experience that finally won out and he eased himself back into the match through the second set, and took full control in the 3rd to win 2/6 6/4 6/1.

The 3rd place playoff was another high quality affair between Luke Danby and Lewis Williams. Both players showing glimpses of the single handicap tennis they are capable of, and sure to return to in the near future. Williams was deadly with his man wall force, but he was matched all the way with Danby hitting grilles for fun. The busy dedans was treated to 2 sets of excellent play, with Williams edging both for a 6/5 6/5 win to take 3rd place.

News of an all Hyde and indeed an all Walditch final had spread, and the dedans was full with members and a few locals. They were treated to another match of the highest quality. Mathias took a little time to warm and struggled to get his game going in the first set which Gale took 6/2. The second set was far tighter, as Mathias started to fire up his railroad and contain the Gale force. This moved the game to the floor, and both players were at their best with some superb restes. Local court knowledge at both ends of the court was demonstrated with some barely believable retrieving, especially off the tambour. Saturday’s exploits started to take their toll on Mathias and the floor game started to break down in Gale’s favour. The relentless play from Gale finally told out and he took the second set 6/3 to close out a fantastic weekend of tennis at The Hyde.