Inter-Universities Tournament 2012
Nov 23, 2012 - Nov 25, 2012 Cambridge K Ludekens
Inter-University Cup and Handicap Singles 2012
The Inter-University Weekend was hosted for a further year by the Cambridge University Real Tennis. There were two tournaments running in parallel, a level Inter-University Cup (IUC) with 8 universities competing and 38 entries in the individual Handicap Competition.
In the Individual Handicap, the first semi-finals was an all Middlesex affair with Rene Schemschat having to overcome a large handicap and the very talented Irina Dulbish; Dulbish won 5/0. In the second semi-final the left-handed railroad of Rufus Parkes (Bristol) was too strong for the much improved Emily Brady (Cambridge); Rufus won 5-1. In the closely-contested final, which was played first to eight games, Parkes and Dulbish were all square at 6-all. It was at this point that Dulbish played the best tennis of the tournament with two games of fantastic volleying to win 8/6.
In semi-finals of the IUC competition, Middlesex produced a clinical display to win both singles comfortably, 10/2 and 10/4. Although, in the doubles, the Durham pair took an early lead, the Middlesex pair of Smart and Schemschat were finally able to overcome Harries-Jones and Antoyne-Harstel 8/3.
The Oxford pair of Beale and Chekroud progressed through their preliminary rounds by defeating London University and Exeter to play the seeded Cambridge team of Watson, Camp and Campbell. Although Chekroud played above his handicap he was unable to cope with Campbell's relentless cut shots, finally losing to love. Beale started well against the Cambridge veteran Watson. It was close all the way up to the point when the score was 5-all, Watson then found much greater consistency in his play allowing him to claim the match 10/5. In the doubles, Camp partnered Watson winning 8/1 and completing the Cambridge victory.
In the Final the second-string singles match between Camp (Cambridge) and Schemschat (Middlesex) turned out to the best match of the weekend. With Camp racing to a 9/3 lead, Schemschat nearly pulled off an amazing come back, fighting his way to 8/9 before Camp found his composure to win 10/8. In the first-string match Smart played much better than his handicap to give Watson a very tough time. At 7-all Watson's forcing and his home court advantage allowed him to pull away and see out the match to provide Cambridge with the victory in the IUC.
The Exeter and Durham teams deserve a special mention because of their commitment to introduce new players even though their University is over 30 minutes drive from their nearest court. All were grateful for the continued sponsorship by Pol Roger, Incognito and the support from the T&RA.