Category B Open Championship (Level Singles for Handicaps 10-19) 2011
Sep 30, 2011 - Oct 02, 2011 Hyde B Ronaldson
A full weekend on the 1st and 2nd of October saw the return of the 10-19s Category B tournament to the Hyde Real Tennis club in Dorset.
As usual, the tournament was divided into the 10-14s and the 15-19s, and this time round there were three more entrants as the Amateurs turned out in more numbers than the previous year.
10-14s:
Unfortunately a twisted ankle for Matt Potter evicted him from the draw at an early stage. Tom Seymour-Mead managed to defeat local boy Mark Matthias 6/3 6/3, whilst Darren Long (last year's 15-19s winner) managed to secure victory over Angus Williams despite a tight second set 6/1 6/5. A similar score line for Peter Paterson as his steady forcing took him past Mark Drysdale who took a set to find his feet: 6/0 6/5. John Prenn (last year's finalist) upset Peter Jarvis 6/2 6/3.
In the semi-finals Darren Long played Tom Seymour Mead and after 31 minutes of play the score was still 3/1 in the first set. On multiple occasions Tom queried whether the fitness of his opponent was either sporting or fair as Darren seemed to be determined not to let the ball bounce twice whichever side of the court he was. Darren eventually won 6/4 6/2, but to Tom's credit, was playing out of his skin. John Prenn had an exhausting match against Peter Paterson in the other semi-final. He managed to find a serve to stop Peter executing his main-wall quite so effectively, but only narrowly won 4/6 6/2 6/5 in the end.
As the final came around I can only imagine what John was thinking. 3 matches in 24 hours is tough on any man... except Darren Long it seems. Just as in 2010, John put up a valiant fight, but the young legs of his opponent flew around the court to take the first set 6/1, although the second set was rather tighter at 6/3.
Darren Long wins the 10-14s 6/1 6/3 against John Prenn.
15-19s:
Simon Barker was the number one seed coming into the 15-19s this year, having won the 10-14s the year before, but he came a cropper against Squash talent Simon Roach who took the quarter final 6/5 6/2.
Sparring partners at Essex Sarah Vigrass and Lewis Williams had a tight match, but Sarah's extended experience and legs saw her through comfortably in the last set 6/4 5/6 6/1.
Neil Mackenzie (son of our Chairman here at the Hyde) and his newfound skills under Adam Philips at Lords managed to defeat the proud new father Adrian Fawcus 3/6 6/2 6/3.
Michael Williams had an almost error free match against poor Jolyon Symonds, who tried desperately to find a chink in the armour and never gave up at any stage, but the Aussie from Queen's Club had a purple patch for what seemed an age as he swept up 6/0 6/1. Fresh off this victory Michael then made short work of Mackenzie in the semi-final 6/1 6/3, whilst Sarah Vigrass managed to survive an epic battle against Simon Roach 6/4 2/6 6/4.
The final produced Sarah's finest tennis of the weekend as she managed to even the set scores after an hours play 2/6 6/3, but as we entered her ninth set of the weekend Michael seemed to step up a gear and found renewed energy to power his volleys away and chase the ball down and he managed to clinch the last set 6/4.
Michael Williams wins the 15-19s 6/2 3/6 6/4 against Sarah Vigrass.