Adult Finals Day - Sunday 29th September

HTC 2024 Adult Finals Day went ahead on Sunday 29th September despite the cold weather and we were lucky the forecast rain did not arrive until after the last match had completed.

The finals started with a thrilling Mixed Doubles match between Graham Speight & Jane Wybron who played Rory Labron & Leslie Goodwin. Graham & Jane won the first set which went to and fro with the  first set lasting an hour and was eventually decided with a tie break. Rory & Lesley fought back to convincingly win the second set 6-2. In the deciding championship tie break, Graham & Jane held their nerve to win three points in a row after a nip and tuck tussle to 7 all. So Graham & Jane won 7-6, 2-6, 7-10.

The Ladies doubles was the next match on court between Jacky Keates & Ailsa Bond who played Ann Schmidt & Sue Jones. This also turned out to be a close tussle and the pairs were evenly matched with Jacky & Ailsa coming out on top in two close sets, winning 7-5, 6-4.

The next match was the Men’s Singles between Rory Labron and Graham Speight. Graham & Rory were in three finals, so they were probably hoping for a quick match - but their competitive spirit got the better of them and they had no such luck! The first set was won by Graham 6-3 and despite the score, this set was a long one as there were long rallies despite the wind which disrupted play all day and made things difficult for all the players. Rory got the bit between his teeth and won the second set 6-1, but again, all the games were very close, but Rory managed to win the critical points. In the deciding Championship tie break Rory managed to get his revenge from the Mixed Doubles and win 10-4. So the result was that Rory won 3-6, 6-1, 10-4.

The final match was the Men’s Doubles between Rory Labron & Sam Wakefield against Graham Speight & Jamie Allen. This also ended up as a closely fought match with a lot of exciting rallies that were appreciated by the respective families that were watching and encouraging their ‘team’. There were some impressive defences from both sides and good attacking play. Rory & Sam managed to win 6-4. 7-5.

The Men’s Senior singles was a round robin event that was played before finals day and the winner was Graham Speight, so Graham and Rory both ended up with two championship wins - congratulations. 

The winners trophies and certificates were presented by Margaret Wilson the tournament organiser and pictures of the players and some of the hardy supporters & families are shown on the web site ‘Galleries’. 

Thanks to Jacky, Margaret, Joanna & Leslie for supplying the tasty lemon drizzle, scones & biscuits that were eagerly consumed by everyone and the hot tea was greatly appreciated as a hand warmer during the day.

Pictures of the day are shown here: Pictures of Finals Day
Champions Hall of Fame : https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/HaddenhamTennisClub/PLAYERINFO/HallOfFame

HTC JUNIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024 – Saturday 29th June

On a glorious sunny Saturday eighteen of our keen and enthusiastic mini and junior players all participated in the 2024 Junior Club Championships.

8U mixed:
A busy schedule of twenty-one short tie-break games on the mini-courts saw girls and boys playing each other and the two highest scorers playing a final. It was very pleasing to see some of our youngest players confidentally playing and enjoying the excitement of the competition. The final produced a close match with the opposite result from during the group stage. Reuben Brown is our 2024 Champion and Rory Hoy runner-up.

10U boys:
The boys all rose to the challenge of being the youngest age group to play on full-sized courts in a FAST4 format. The round robin resulted in all players level on points and it came down to ‘games against’ to find our finalists! It was a tense final. Mav Horton is our 2024 Champion and Sami Fordham runner-up.

12U boys:
It’s fantastic to see how this group of boys have improved their game over the years and are now confident young players as well as good friends.  After the round robin stages, Elliot and Orhan had the most points to then play a final with Orhan seeking revenge as Elliot had won in 2023. It came down to a tie-break decider.  Orhan Yesugey is our 2024 Champion and Elliot Philpott runner-up.

14U girls:
This season we have seen a noticeable increase in junior girl players but not quite in time to enter this year’s competition. The final was another repeat of last year’s with Bonnie and Bella once more locked in competition. Bonnie White is our 2024 Champion and Bella Lamborn runner-up.

16U boys:
The round robin stages played the previous day produced many close (tie-break deciding) matches plus some high quality tennis. The two top scorers of Tom and Harry met in the final for a one set decider. Tom Usher is our 2024 Champion and Harry Baldwin runner-up.

Thanks to Blaise and his Coaching Team for their encouraging support and smooth planning of all the matches and to Julie Burton for her organising & Bev Wilson, HTC Chair, for presenting the trophies.

More photos of the day : Click Here