Leading world doubles pairs at Seacourt
By DAN JONES SEACOURT was proud to host the Over 50s Real Tennis Amateur Doubles in early May.
Six pairs of the world's top-ranked doubles pairs entered the competition with high hopes of lifting the coveted trophy.
After several close matches Hugh Latham and Alan Fine won a closer than the score suggests semi-final (6-1, 6-1) to book a place in the final.
John Ward and Phillip Shaw-Hamilton also made it through to the final after a great battle with Alex Garside and Spencer Davies.
The final was an epic affair with both pairs at the top of their game.
Alan and Hugh were dominant in the first set but lost their way in the second as John and Phillip levelled the match at a set-all!
The final set was hard-fought but Hugh and Alan managed to regain their earlier form to win the title.
Louis Gordon travelled to Prested Hall to challenge for the Under 20s British Real Tennis Championship, last month.
He exceeded all expectations with a fine string of victories over many notable adversaries to reach the final where he faced the current Ladies British Open champion, Claire Vigrass.
The match couldn't have been closer with a great display of tennis but Claire showed why she is the LBO champion and won the match 6-4, 6-4.
LAWN TENNIS
The Bedford Fun Doubles was rained off on the Saturday, but Seacourt members were treated to a beautiful Sunday to play the remainder of the tournament, last month
The group stages of the competition are run on a timer and the knockout stages are best of one six-game set and after a plethora close games, Jan Woods and Ian Marks reached the final with a narrow win over Kevin Jacobs and Linda Ford.
The second semi-final saw Caroline Hewitt and Pete Robertson take on Paul McTigue and Annie Bedford in a very close encounter which saw Pete and Caroline reach the final with a 6-4 win.
The final couldn't have been tighter but Pete and Caroline found the crucial shots to secure a great victory.
SQUASH
The annual squash competition had the strongest entry in as many years and the standard couldn't have been higher.
The men's first team are all riding high on confidence after a huge win against Winchester Squash Club in the Knockout competition to win their first silverware under Rhys Glides' superb captaincy.
A big thank-you to the team of Luke Danby, Nick Atkins, Andrew Jameson, Conor Medlow, and Ivan Snell who have also been promoted after an outstanding season.
The Men's semi-finals saw Rhys Glide, defending champion ease into the finals with a 3-0 win over Ivan Snell, where Rhys met Luke Danby who had a great win over team-mate Nick Atkins in the other semi.
The final was full of aggression and brutality from Luke and Rhys used his experience and finesse to counter punch the attack to his favour and secured the title for the second year in a row with a 27-17 win.
The Vets' final was hard-fought and saw Seacourt's two leading vets going toe-to-toe.
Brain Purdy and Brian Downer are no strangers to each other's game, but it was Brian's night, as he moved round the court like a 20-year-old to soak up everything Barry could throw at him and secured the title for the second year in a row.
Brian went onto win the Men's B grade competition against newcomer and fast-improving Andy Craig.
The vets' B grade was a match of attrition with both Keith Davies and Mike Tate slugging it out for the title. Mike found the inner strength in the fifth game to lift the title.
REAL TENNIS
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Friday 10 February 2012
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