The Finals took place on a beautiful September day in warm sunshine at the club’s Balksbury home.
A great deal of work had been done to ready the club and a kitchen team were ready to provide sustenance throughout the day.
Junior Finals were spread throughout the morning and early afternoon. All were contested keenly but in good spirit.
Event Winner Runner Up
Under 8 Lilliana Mawo Sebastian DeMarco
Under 9 Connie Soon Christine Harman
Under 10 Alice Martin Tabitha Hann
Under 12 Girls Meredith DeMarco Amelia Martin
Under 12 Boys Xander Martin Ryan Crewell
Under 14 Girls Karolina Miller Amelia Martin
Under 14 Boys Isaac Robinson Monty Johnson
Under 16 Girls Maria Sharova Karolina Miller
Under 16 Boys Hari Putt Sam Putt
Under 14 Boy’s Doubles Isaac Robinson /Monty Johnson Xander Martin/Ryan Crewell
Under 16 Boy’s Doubles Hari Putt/Sam Putt Ned Barrett/Matteo Belver Hill
Under 18 Girl’s Doubles Karolina Miller/ Maria Sharova Holly Cann/Luciana Salazar Lewis
Trophies were awarded by special Guest of Honour Claire Coomer, a long term member and previous coach at ALTC, winner of seven singles titles, eleven doubles titles and twenty two mixed doubles titles at the club.
A silence was held in respect and thanks for the long life of service of the Queen.
Special Awards were made first;
The Margaret Winnett Cup for most improved Mini went to Liliana Mawo.
The Wakeham Cup for most improved Junior went to Isaac Robinson.
The Coomer Award for most improved Saturday morning Junior went to MJ Kasperczuk
The Joan Reeve award for most Outstanding Club Junior was shared by Isaac Robinson and Luciana Salazar-Lewis
The Ladies Doubles was awarded to Martha Folkes and Clair Thain and the Mixed Doubles to Flavia Zamfir and Kyrill Kennett who both reached their respective Finals but could not play as one of their opponents was injured.
The first Adult matches were the Singles.
The Ladies Final saw Elena Clarke take on Flavia Zamfir and there were fabulous rallies from the back of the court, with both ladies striking the ball well. Flavia consistently exploited more of the court, however, and won through, 6-1, 6-1, to retain her Ladies Title.
The Men’s Final saw Gregor Corcoran determined to reverse last year’s close loss to Kyrill Kennett. It looked as though he would do it when his powerful accurate hitting on both wings saw him take a 7-5, 3-0 lead. Kyrill had to try something different. He slowed down his shots and gave them more air and managed to break Gregor’s consistency, winning the next six games to take the set 6-3.
A championship tie break settled it, as it had last year. Kyrill played his more normal game now and powered his way through to a second tile win.
The Men’s Veteran Singles pitted multiple veteran’s title holder Al Williams against club coach Martyn Isherwood. The first set saw a pattern of firm ball striking from Al and careful placement and superb volleying from Martyn. This allowed Martyn to take the set 6-3. In the second, Al redoubled his efforts and took five games in a row to take the second set 6-1.
Martyn was not finished, however, and, rejuvenated, took an early lead in the deciding tie break and won it 10-5 to take the title.
The last match of the day was the Men’s Doubles. This is always a crowd favourite and once again lived up to its billing. Past winners Andrew Winnett and Ant Brown were playing Singles champion Kyrill Kennett and Adrian Shapter.
The first set went Ant and Andrew’s way. They put their opponents on the back foot with attacking tennis and net dominance to take it 6-1. The second set was, as in other finals, a completely different story as Kyrill and Adrian came up with impressively controlled power play to make everything that had looked easy for Ant and Andrew much more difficult. Kyrill and Adrian took the set 6-1 to reverse the first set.
The deciding tie break was the most competitive of the day and Ant and Andrew just edged it 12-10 after both teams had had opportunities to win. It was a great way to end a very successful day.
