Chetwood Trophy 2018
Jeremy Pennant (Wellington) won the Chetwood Trophy this weekend at Bridport. The Chetwood Trophy is the National club winners handicap competition.
Once again we had a great start to the year with the Chetwood Trophy. We had 19 competitors from 16 different clubs come to Bridport to play the cup-winners cup of handicap tennis, with handicaps ranging from 30 to 75.
Friday night saw Marcus Campbell representing Canford being narrowly defeated by one of two Bristol entrants, Laurence Brook. Then entered Danny Dawson from Oxford, who adapted to the court very quickly. Mike Box, representing Hardwick, went from strength to strength in each of his sets, but never quite found his range on serve. In the end Danny emerged as a clear winner.
Saturday morning saw the first 4 games go to 40 all, with Alan Wheeler of Middlesex narrowly taking all four. It wasn't until the seventh game that Moreton Morrell's Harry Walsh got going, but sadly it was too late. Then entered Jeremy Pennant from Wellington who settled into the court very quickly, picking up two hard fought victories to eventually win the group relatively convincingly.
The Lunchtime group saw the return of Merton's reigning Chetwood Champion, Bruce Morrison. His experience of the court proved crucial, because try as they might, Dennis Mullan, chairman of Bristol, and Steve Steadman, representing Prested couldn't stop him from getting through to the semi's.
Sadly Jessica Medlow of Seacourt had to pull out of the tournament leaving Benedict Treloar from RTC to play Martin Hornby. The Hatfield player held his own and nearly won both sets, with Ben just about edging a 6/4 6/5 thriller.
Late on Saturday saw the three highest seeds play. Radley's Paul Kettle played incredibly well to beat Richard Ramjane (Prested). Richard was nip and tuck with our very own Geraint Thomas, but his home court knowledge eventually proved just enough to see him past the finish post against both opponents.
Many thanks to Luke Readman who came all the way from Queens despite having been ill all week. He played his club mate Alan Giddins and Adrian Warburton from Prested, but sadly hadn't recovered in time to do himself justice. Alan, who has only been playing for a year, played a steady game throughout and made his way through to the Semi's.
And what great Semi finals we had. All the matches went to five games all, but by the end of two round robin groups of three, we had two clear Finalists, Alan Giddins and Jeremy Pennant. Despite a hefty handicap Alan played with great composure and looked like he might overcome the odds, but with his opponent found the length on his serve - Nobody could deny that Jeremy was a worthy winner.
Many thanks as always to the Tennis and Rackets Association for sponsoring the tournament. Also a big thank you to all the participants... there was a lovely atmosphere all weekend and we appreciate everybody travelling so far, and giving up their weekend to take part.
Happy Tennis and all the best for the new year from the Pros at the Hyde!