Cheshire Ladies & Men’s County Championships 2022

Hoole LTC were again great hosts to the Annual County Championships (31st August – 4th September). It was a good sized entry with qualifying events required for both the Men’s singles and doubles. 

The qualifying event for the Men’s singles resulted in Luke Brierley and Luka Matellini taking their place in the main draw, however, they both came up against strong opposition in the 1st round with them both losing in straight sets to Robin Bloomer (6/2, 6/4) and Joe Evans (6/4, 6/3) respectively. All the other 1st round matches saw no surprises with straight set victories for the 4 seeded players. Whilst the top two seeds won their next matches comfortably, this was not the case for Jamie Oakes (No. 3 seed) and Danny Urey (No.4 seed). Jamie faced Nicholas Fance who was playing with increased confidence following his first round win, however Jamie managed to win in two close sets 6 – 3, 7 – 5. Meanwhile Danny found Ilias Hirani – Worthington, one of our top juniors in great form. Ilias dominated many of the base line rallies and his strong base line game resulted in a convincing 6 – 2, 6 – 1 win. Ilias now faced the number 1 seed and defending champion Pedro Ocana. This proved to be one of the matches of the tournament with Ilias & Pedro playing some outstanding rallies. The first set went to Pedro 6 – 3, however, the score line didn’t do justice to how close the match was. Ilias bounced back from this disappointment and raced into a 3 – 0 lead in the second set, but Pedro’s greater experience and consistency made all the difference eventually taking the 2nd set 6 – 4.  An in form Seb Jackson continues to defy the ageing process, winning his first two matches and dropping only 4 games in the process. This included defeating the recently crowned 18U singles champion Joe Evans. Jamie Oakes suffered a similar experience in the semi final losing 6 – 2, 6 – 1. The final was always going to be well contested with the two most experienced members of the Men’s County team. A match of real quality in which Seb didn’t take the break points he created. This proved to be decisive, and Pedro won in straight sets 6 -2, 6 – 2. A well deserved title to add to last year’s success. Pedro Ocana - Men's Singles County Champion

As in last year’s Championships the Ladies singles event was dominated by some of the top junior players. Top seed Phoebe Mitchell is in her final year as a junior but she has established herself as a regular member of the Ladies County team. She reached the semi-finals with a convincing win against Nia McKinnon, however, Susanna Thompson, a County 14U player who had won her first match in straight sets against Harriet Birkett showed great resilience and made Phoebe work very hard before proving too strong for Susanna. In the other half of the draw Vicky McNeight (No.2 seed) and Abi Redman (No.3 seed) achieved good wins in the first matches against determined opponents Karina Kiss and Jessica Mclean. Vicky and Abi then played out a very close semi final which was decided by a final set tie break. Vicky’s greater experience proved decisive against a much younger opponent taking the tie breaker 10 – 7. It was the same as the Men’s singles with the top two seeds reaching their predicted places in the final. It was always going to be a case of whether Phoebe’s strong ground strokes would overcome Vicky’s variety of strokes. The match was full of long rallies, however, Phoebe took more of the chances she created than Vicky and this proved to be the difference with Phoebe winning her first Ladies county singles title 6 – 3, 6 – 3. Phoebe Mitchell - Ladies Singles County Champion

The Ladies and Men’s doubles events proved to be both entertaining and very competitive. The 2 pairs to win through the qualifying event were Brad Keenan & Rafael Kiss and Luka & Matthias Matellini. Both pairs did not progress any further losing in straight sets to Nick Fance & Danny Urey and Connor Keohane & Jamie Oakes respectively. The top seeds of Seb Jackson & Pedro Ocana (No.1) and James & Robin Bloomer (No.2) both came through their 1st matches, however, James & Robin were made to work especially hard against the home club pair of Jamie Blunt & Callum Atkinson eventually winning a final set tie break. They found Connor Keohane & Jamie Oakes a different proposition losing 5 – 7, 1 – 6. In the other semi - final Seb & Pedro took a tight first set 6 – 4 against Nick & Danny, however, they ran away with the second set 6 – 0. The final was dominated by the top seeds with Seb & Pedro defeating Connor & Jamie 6 – 2, 6 – 2. So it’s special congratulations to Pedro Ocana for winning both County singles & doubles titles. Seb Jackson & Pedro Ocana - Men's Doubles County Champions

The ladies’ doubles event featured only 5 pairs, however, there were some close matches. The pick of them being the 18U juniors’ runners up Nia McKiernon & Jessica Mclean defeating Karina Kiss & Ruby Roberts 6 – 3, 7 – 6 (5). The top seeded pairs of Abi & Amy Redman (No.1) and Aimee Kaye & Vicky McNeight (No.2) proved a level above their opponents in the semi finals with convincing wins, and in the final it was Abi and Amy Redman who dominated the match defeating Aimee & Vicky 6 – 2, 6 – 2. Special congratulations go to Abi who is the youngest player to win a Ladies County title at 15 years of age. Amy Redman & Abi Redman - Ladies Doubles County Champions.

Photographs of the day may be found here 

John Hilton (Tournament Organiser) 

September ‘22