tennis Fixture

Category B Open Championship (Level singles for Handicaps 10-19) 2015

Report:

The 10-19s (Category B) provided another weekend of inspiration and amazement for the talent on show down at the Hyde!

The tournament as always was split into the 10-14s and the 15-19s - the latter having the better attendance this year.

The 15-19s

Peter Paterson was the number one seed for the 15-19s, but Tom Bomford was up for a ruck in the quarter-finals, having dispatched Nino Merola 6/0 6/1 in the previous round. In the end the seed prevailed 6/3 0/6 6/4, but it was an intense battle. Closer still was the somewhat epic 6/2 2/6 6/5 victory Tom Lewis had over Jonny Whitaker - proving once again that a good railroad can give you a leg up at this level. Tom then continued his winning streak into the semi-finals where he managed to overcome Paterson 6/3 6/2 with more of the same. Despite the size of the Hyde dedans, Tom was managing to contain Peter's main wall forces by controlling the serve better than most.

On the other side of the draw Philip Dunn (seeded 2) had a good tussle with Simon Barker (who seems to be back to playing fit again after a poor year), but it was still straight sets: 6/2 6/4. In the semis Philip played Zak Eadle (son of) who had been tested by the home professional Jez Brodie the day before 6/2 6/5 and was seemingly carrying an ankle injury. As far as the crowd were concerned Zak would not win if he played like he had the day before.... He did not. Althought the first set went 5/6 in Mr Dunn's favour it was all Eadle after that 6/2 6/2. His explosive speed and animated persistence was befuddling at best!

The final saw Zak facing Tom Lewis, but after a gruelling weekend Tom's strength seemed to have dwindled a tad by the time the final came about. With a bit less punch to the railroad and a slightly slower ground speed Zak seemed like a whirlwind in comparison and swept to a 6/0 6/0 victory in very little time.

The 10-14s

Henry Mullan was on fire this weekend. With a trip to Philly on the horizon to try his hand out in the States he looked eager to work on his game, and started off by dispatching the number one seed Ben Boddington 6/1 6/2 having made swift work of Alex Evans the round before. Showing a similar efficiency Robert Shenkman managed to deal with David Watson in short order 6/2 6/0 although the match was certainly closer than score suggested.

The final between Robert and Henry was quite a dogged affair - each set taking far longer than the end score might suggest as the rallies just kept going and going. Neither player was making unforced errors and there was very little target hitting, but in the end Henry seemed to be able to win more of the long points by being slightly less consistent, but slightly more powerful and unexpected.

Henry Mullan won the final 6/2 6/2.