35 & Over County Championships  5th - 7th May 2023 

This year’s tournament was held at the excellent venue of Bowdon LTC. There was a disappointing number of entries apart from the men’s singles. There was, however, a high-quality entry with the top three seeds being Seb Jackson, Patrick Talbot and Nigel Birkett. The earlier rounds saw no surprises and the semi-final line up was Seb taking on the number 4 seed Simon Darmon and last year’s finalists Patrick and Nigel. Seb won in straight sets 6 - 3, 6 - 2.  Last year’s final between Patrick and Nigel was something of an epic in which Patrick had won in a final set tie break, however, on this occasion Nigel gained some revenge winning convincingly 6 -3, 6 - 0. The final saw Seb playing on top of his game, and he dominated the match with some outstanding play. Nigel tried everything to try and break up Seb’s attacking shots, but to no avail with Seb Jackson winning 6 - 1, 6 - 1. 

The women’s singles final was between last year’s champion Vicky McNeight and Katy Sadler. There were similarities to the men’s final in the way Vicky took control of the match with a series of powerful accurate shots and Katy being unable to find a way to counter Vicky’s domination. The result was Vicky McNeight retaining her title with a convincing 6 - 0, 6 - 1 win.  

Only 4 pairs entered the men’s doubles. The top seeds of Jon Cain & Simon Darmon reached the final with a straight sets win against Steven Everitt & Martin Lilley. Defending champions Chris Paramore & David Trainor faced last year’s runners up Phil Spencer & Tom Sampson. This time Phil Spencer and Tom Sampson were victorious but only by way of a final set tie break (10 - 7). The final saw another very close match with Phil & Tom winning the first set by virtue of a tie break (7 -2) and then sealing victory winning the second set 6 - 4.  

View photographs from the day here