A smashing write-up from our Junior Club Chair, Jon Guppy:
It was another successful county closed week for Pershore Tennis Centre ...
with members of the club amassing six wins, six runners-up spots and seven 3rd,4th or joint 3rd/4th places, with 29 players competing in this year's competition across 32 event categories.
Notable wins (in order of youngest to oldest age categories) were:
In the Boys 8U Singles event 7 year old Dara Guppy surprised the older opposition by winning all his 7 matches to take the title, including a 10-9 win in the final.
The 10U Boys Doubles competition was well represented by Pershore with five from the eight players being from the club.
It was Theo Houston who won this event with his partner George Hadley, beating Pershore's William Billings and Tom Porter in what was a thrilling three set final.
The 12U Boys Doubles event brought together Alfie Mills and Jack Bulbulia as the number one seeded pair. They cruised to the final dropping only six games in two matches going on to take the title 6-3,7-5.
Meanwhile, in the girls events, Caoimhe Guppy was determined to pick up some more titles having been a regular winner over the years. She didn't disappoint, despite being the second seed in the 14U Girls Singles, coming out as 6-2,6-4 winner against rival Bethany Pye.
Pershore had success in the 18U Boys Singles competition this year with the talented Max Hingley powering through the q-final and s-final to beat Joe Hart 6-3,7-6(3) in the final. Max was also awarded the prestigious County "Junior Boy of the Year" award, having had a successful 12 months and as a result rising to 144 in the country in the 18U boys category.
The last of our winners was "deadly doubles duo" Matt Sime and Antony Fordham, who won the 18U Boys Doubles title, coming back from 5-8 down in the final set match tie-break to take the win 10-8 from Max and Joe Hart. This win meant they had now won 14U, 16U, and 18U county doubles titles together - a great achievement.
A special team award was presented to the 10u boys county cup team of which William Billings and Theo Houston were part of this year. Well done to our boys!
There were a number of runners up to mention:
10U Boys Doubles - William Billings/Tom Porter.
12U Boys Singles - Alfie Mills.
12U Girls Doubles - Ruth Teale was forced into second when her partner pulled out with an injury just before their final.
14U Girls Doubles - Caoimhe Guppy/Ruth Teale.
14U Mixed Doubles - Caoimhe Guppy.
16U Girls Singles - Caoimhe Guppy lost in the final having won an epic third set match tie-break 18-16 in the semis.
Other notable results for Pershore were:
Maegan Teale was competing in the 8u girls event and made it through to the semi-final, where she lost to eventual winner Grace Hadley.
Pershore had six boys in the 9u singles. Tom Randall fared the best, reaching the quarter finals. The other Pershore boys were Lucas Webster, Tim Bisson, Ronan Guppy, Dhruv Dubey, and George Billings.
In the 9u mixed doubles event Tim partnered Tom and Lucas was Ronan's doubles partner. Both pairs won matches in the group, but didn't progress any further.
Theo Houston, William Billings, Tom Porter, and James Barnett entered the 10u boys singles.
William made it to the semi-final losing to number one seed George Hadley in a close match.
In the bottom half of the draw, Theo also made it to the semi's, but lost to number two seed Felix Shennan.
In the 12U Girls Singles Ruth Teale narrowly lost her semi-final 6-7(2),4-6 to the eventual winner.
Caoimhe partnered up with Georgia Marrett in the 16U Girls Doubles, and finished third.
Matt Sime reached the semi-finals of the 18U Boys Singles event, then Matt and Antony reached the semi-finals of the open Mens Doubles event, as did Max, with his partner.
Congratulations to all the other Pershore competitors who fought hard - we are proud of you all!"
VIdeo shot by the H&W LTA is here and more pics on Facebook.