With two Hampshire & IoW Tournaments on this weekend and next week I decided to do a diary as there are some significant results. In the Senior (I mean senior as in over 18 rather than over 45 or 55 years old) Thornden Tennis Club had 6 players out of an entry of 19 – almost 33%. In the Junior events we have 17 players out of a total of 138 so over 12% of the total entry. Photo: Magda - finalist in Girl's 14s and winner in 16s, Summer finalist in Ladies.
Sunday
To start with the Ladies: Frankie Colling won her first round match convincingly but then met the #1 seed in the semis but lost. Summer on the other hand had a bye to the Semi where she won a dominant match and so will avenge her mother’s defeat next Saturday. In the Women’s Doubles Frankie & Summer won one match while Magda Kornijczuk & Freya Davies won both their matches so won the championship. The Men had Dave Darrock losing in his first round James Blair fighting through to the semi-final where he was beaten and Mats Colling also losing in the first round. Mats then lost in the consolation match to the bloke that James Blair beat in his semi-final.
In the Juniors Marcin Kornijczuk had a good start winning in three sets (Mixed 9 & Under) but he lost in the next round to the eventual runner-up. Arek Kudla had a bye through to the second round which he won but lost in the Quarter Final stage of the same event where he was beaten in two sets by the eventual winner. Marcin and Arek then went on to play other matches with mixed results – but all had fun.
Monday
Arek Kudla was in action in the Boy’s tens cruising to a semi-final loss to the eventual winner but then took the play off for third/fourth.
In the Boy’s 14 & Under Sam Ardley was thumped in his first round match as was Ben Hatfield and Freddie Swain. Leo Gamon had a bye to the second round where he lost in three sets.
Magda Kornijczuk cruised through to the final of the Girl’s 14 & Under in which Anna Vinnell fought through to the semi-final which is to be played on Tuesday.
Finally in the Boy’s 18 & Under Milan Bharadia pulled off a surprise win against Alex Billingham, Harry Dunnett lost to the #3 seed, James Blair progressed and Mats Colling beat James Ardley. So we have three players in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
Tuesday
I supposed it had to happen. Milan faced Liam Hignett in the Men’s 18 & Under (who plays in the National Aegon league) and was dispatched rather quickly. Mats was defeated by the #2 seed in a rather one-sided battle. James Blair had a good win in two sets (even if the first went to a tie-break) but then he had to face defeat in the Semi-final to the victor of Mats earlier match. Alex lost in his consolation match but James Ardley pulled off a good win in the Consolation but then was defeated in the final in a close match.
In the Girl’s 14 & Under Anna Vinnell went down in a very tight first set and never really recovered after that.
In the Boy’s 14 & Under consolation Leo had a tough time and came out defeated.
Ami Talpallikar took part in the Girl’s 10 & Under doubles but had mixed success – well she did win two matches to come third.
So next we had Sam Ardley & Freddie Swain in the Boy’s 14 & Under doubles: they were rather overcome by their opposition. Ben Hatfield and his partner had an even worse encounter. It wasn’t much better in the Consolation so we won’t say too much on that subject.
The Boy’s 18 & Under doubles first round had a success and failure for Thornden in one match: James Ardley & Milan Bharadia had a see-saw of a match against Harry Dunnett & Mats Colling and won – they were soon put out though by the #1 seeds who included Jake Norris, sometimes of this parish. James Blair and his Partner won their first round and then lost in the final of the same competition. But good news: Mats & Harry went on to win the Doubles consolation.
Magda and Anna Vinnell won their first round match/semi-final in the Girl’s 14 & under Doubles - a real ding-dong of a match but in the final had to settle for second place.
Wednesday
We will start with the Boy’s 12 & Under in which Ben Hatfield had a comfortable first round match but was outgunned by the #1 seed in the quarter finals. Freddie Swain had a tight match in the first round but lost and then in the consolation he was again beaten in the first round. Sam Ardley lost 7In the games in reaching the semi-final that he will play tomorrow.
In the Girl’s 16 & under Anna Vinnell lost her first round match and effectively won her Consolation final as the other first round player didn’t turn up. Magda Kornijczuk had a bye in the first round and easily win her semi-final only dropping one game and so we wait for that match whenever that will be scheduled.
In the Boy’s 16 & Under Joe Henbury lost in his first round as did Leo Gamon. Leo played in the consolation but he lost that first round match. Milan Bharadia then met the victor of Joe and he succumbed to the fire power. James had a bye in the first round, won his second round comfortable and then had a bit more of a fight in his quarter final so he will be playing his semi-final tomorrow.
So that was it for Wednesday.
Thursday
Well we start with Sam Ardley in the semi-final of the Boy’s 12 & Under and that is where Sam stopped! He played the #2 seed who was clearly on fire while Sam looked as if he wished he had stayed in bed. Mind you brother James was hoping for better but he was thumped in the Boy’s 16 & Under singles.
Sam then played in the 12 & Under Doubles with Freddie Swain – not much doing there as they lost to the #1 seeds, but it all came out OK in the consolation which Sam & Freddie WON! Whoopie, Yeehah and whatever. Ben Hatfield and his partner did survive the first round but then lost to the #1 seeds.
Magda Kornijczuk and her partner came away with nothing from the Girl’s 18 & Under doubles but I guess that as they were both 14 & Under that is not surprising!
James Ardley joined with Milan Bharadia in the Boys 16 & Under Doubles, dumped Joe Henbury & his partner in the semi-final but were then beaten in the final.
That just about wraps it up for today. Don’t know what will happen tomorrow but we will see.
Friday
Nothing happened.
Saturday was Finals day with a bit of 9 & Under doubles to relieve the boredom
We will start with the Mixed 9 & Under doubles in which we had Marcin Kornijczuk & Arek Kudla competing. They played a total of 5 matches, managed to win two and hence finished fourth of the six pairs. A good result, especially as they rarely have to play doubles.
Magda Kornijczuk cruised to a win in the Girl’s 16 & Under tournament and after a short rest she was back in action in the Girl’s 14 & Under event. Magda started slowly dropping the firsts et 2-6 and then fought really hard to force her opponent to play her best with Magda finally succumbing 5-7.
Summer Colling stepped on court while Magda was in action to play the final of the Ladies event. Her opponent had earlier beaten Magda’s victor in the Girl’s 18 & Under event but had enjoyed a longer break. Summer was no match for her opponent and lost heavily although she did b]pick up some games early in the match.
So that was it for the week. Thornden can boast One County Champion, Finalists in three events, semi-finalists in at least 7singles events (9 if we include Magda and Summer) plus huge participation in events all over the tournaments. The referee was heard to comment on the massive participation by Thornden: thantastic, thenomenal are among a number of suitable adjectives.
Well done everyone who participated from our mini players to the adults. I hope I have done you proud with my reporting as you have made me proud writing this!