Category B Open Championship (Level Singles for Handicaps 10-19) 2014
Sep 26, 2014 - Sep 28, 2014 Hyde B Ronaldson
The 10-14s:
A mixture of old and wise with young and steady took to the court in Bridport for this annual T&RA tournament.
It was a pleasure to have Steve Brockenshaw down from Manchester, but it was short lived as Adam Player managed to dispatch him in the semis after a close first set.
John Prenn was down once again (every year it has been held at the Hyde), but despite practising well with the home professional the day before the tournament, he was upset by the young and talented Edmund Kay.
This proved to be a trend as the Cambridge/RTC man managed to secure the tournament without losing a set, beating Leon Smart in the semis and Adam Player in the final. The final was certainly a contest though as Adam only just lost 6/5 in the second, but the brilliant engineer dazzled everyone with his sharp volleys, speed and tenacity.
The 15-19s:
The semi-finals of this tournament were both nailbiters as they both finished 6/3 in the third with the victors losing the middle sets. On the one hand it was Philip Dunn squeaking past Alex Evans 6/3 5/6 6/3 with his steady play-style and curious serving. On the other hand it was Charlie Harries-Jones who tore through David Watson in the first set, only to be demolished in the second. The third set was more of a contest though, but with a three love lead Charlie kept his head above water and finished 6/1 0/6 6/3.
The final was probably the longest match of the whole weekend as these two players seemed to have endless stamina despite having played the semis earlier on in the day. Phillip Dunn managed to clinch the first 6/5 and was leading 4/0 in the second when suddenly everything changed. Well, two things changed: Phil seemed to hit a bit of a wall and Charlie must have taken some pills or something such was the metamorphosis that happened to his entire game. Phil was still running hard but his shots were a little tired, but Charlie started playing some tight and intelligent tennis that had eluded him to this point all weekend.
The final score was 5/6 6/5 6/3 to Charlie Harries-Jones.