Sunday 24th July saw a crowd of 50 or more members and guests turn out to watch the action as the club’s leading players battled it out once again for the five club tournament trophies. Andrew Cater supplied his delicious ice creams and there were complimentary strawberries and cream to keep the spectators happy, not to mention a bountiful supply of chilled beverages.

On a blustery and overcast day, first on court were up and coming youngster Zanna Newsholme and former finalist Jen Rose. The first set went to a more consistent Jen 6-3 before big hitting Zanna began to find her range more regularly, rattling off the first 8 points in the second set to go 2-0 up. She maintained her advantage to take the second set 6 -3 and level the match. In the deciding championship tie break Zanna raced into a commanding  7-1 lead only for Jen to claw her way back to 8-5 with a huge shout of “C’mon!” But Zanna held her nerve and closed out the breaker 10-6 to become the new champion.

Next up was the Men’s Singles, a repeat of last year’s final between Kevin Davis (39) and Stuart Loudwell (54). This time, Stuart looked to disrupt his younger opponent with a mixture of top spin, slice and volleys but Kevin seemed to have the answer to everything with a combination of power and accuracy and one superb moment of finesse as a stop volley almost spun back into the net. Try as Stuart did, there only ever looked to be one likely outcome and Kevin comfortably retained his title 6-1, 6-1.

The Ladies’ Doubles featured two new pairings, Jen Rose and club coach Cristina Sanz, in coordinated red and black kit, taking on Jo Little and Julie Hopkinson. There was nothing to choose between the pairs in the first set, with some exciting close quarters volleying, before Jen and Cristina broke serve to edge in front and take the set 6-3. A tense second set started off equally close, cries of anguish coming from Jo and Julie as chance after chance to get back on level terms went begging. But Jen and Cristina kept their composure and finally took the set on their third match point 6-4, and with it the title.

The sun came out briefly in the afternoon for the Men’s Doubles final between last year’s winners Peter Moroz (59) and Stuart Loudwell, and the Beer pairing of Barry Follett (63) and Iain Horlock (34). In a high octane display of power tennis and quick fire volleying, with all 4 players at the net, Pete and Stuart took the first set 6-4. It was much the same in the second set with nothing to separate the teams up to 5 all, before Pete and Stuart just squeezed over the line 7-5 to retain their title.

As usual, the final event was the Mixed Doubles between multiple former winners Julie Hopkinson and Simon Prior (66), and new pairing of daughter and father Becs Hudson and Geoff Westall (62). As the wind got up, gusts interrupted play 3 times, sending the players’ chairs cartwheeling onto the court! Geoff and Becs coped better with the challenging conditions and broke serve in the second half of the first set to take it 6-4. They then raced into a 5-2 lead in the second set and served for a convincing win, only for Simon and Julie to hang on with a break to love. But the fight back was short lived and Becs and Geoff ran out worthy winners 6-3 for their first title.

Congratulations to all the winners, and a big thank you to everyone who took part.