A great day of competitive and hard-fought tennis was on show at Old Basing Tennis Club for its Finals’ Day on Saturday 10 September allowing players and the 40+ spectators to enjoy several hours of exciting tennis in glorious weather, ending a great summer of compelling and fun tennis.

The club’s Tournament for members playing each other in singles and doubles matches is held every year from June until September, culminating in the Finals’ Day, with a trophy giving ceremony and barbeque to round off the event. The tournament was ably organised by Del Salter getting all the players in the right place at the right time over several weeks and scheduling the finals matches on our four courts during the day.

The event started with the singles matches and the Men’s Singles title was retained by Jamie Thomas who beat Marcus Robertson comfortably with a 6-1,6-2 win. Jamie has been our singles champion for several years now so well done to him.

The Ladies Singles final saw a hard-fought two-hour match between Penny Luke and Jane Reap with Penny just edging ahead to win 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, retaining her title from last year.

Jamie and Marcus then went on to partner each other in the Men’s Doubles and won the title, winning 6-1, 6-2 against Andy Riding and Joe Lane. All four players put on an entertaining and spirited display of tennis.

The mother and son partnership of Lynne and Jamie Thomas had a good win in the Mixed Doubles against Penny Luke and Marcus Robertson, coming back to win the second and third sets having lost the first 2-6, 7-5, 6-2. This gave Jamie a clean sweep of three wins in three finals.

In the Ladies Doubles, Jane Hatter and Penny Luke gained the title having won the first set 6-2 and were winning 4-2 in the second when Sandie Benham and Jane Reap sadly had to retire due to injury.

There was also competitive tennis to watch in the Handicapped Doubles Competition. The Men’s Handicap Doubles final was extremely close in an exciting match  won by Elton Koeburg and Joe Lane, who beat Andy Riding and Mike Wright 7-5,   6-4.

In the Ladies Handicapped Doubles final, Lynne Thomas won her second trophy, winning 6-0, 6-4 with her partner Jenny Vaux against Jen Boyd and Cas Lomas.

Trophies, some dating back to 1931, were presented to the winners by Club Chairman Nigel Hatt and the day was rounded off with a barbeque and drinks.

The last presentation of the day was the Betty Holmes Trophy, awarded to the club member who has made the greatest contribution to the club over the previous year. This was justly won by Committee Member Tim Winkle following his hard work as Match Secretary and much other unseen work at the club.