Yes it is time for Snow’s Thornden Junior Open but not in December but in July/August. We have a few members involved, and a few players who have moved to other pastures, so this is a log of what happened. Photo: Some of the Final Day participants after 6.5 hours cooking!
Day 1: Tuesday 31st July.
The Boy’s 12 & Under featured Oliver Hilton, Sam Ardley, Ben Hatfield and Arek Kudla. Oliver was given a real lesson in tennis by Hamish Goulding but I am pleased to say that Sam Ardley returned the compliment in a 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 10-2 beating of Hamish in the second round. Mind you Sam did sit out the first round as #1 seed. Ben negotiated his first round 6-3, 6-3 and then won 6-1, 6- to reach the semi-final. Arek Kudla cruised through his first round 6-1, 6-1 but but then lost to the #2 seed 1-6, 1-6. He is still a Green ball player so he did well in one of his first tournaments at yellow ball level. And that was that.
Wednesday 1st August
This started with the Boy’s 12 & Under semi-finals. Sam Ardley started slowly but pulled himself back from 0-2 down to win the forst set 6-2 and then took the second 6-3 . Ben Hatfield found his lack of matchplay left him short of his normal sharpness and lost 4-6, 4-6. In the final Sam won 6-3, 6-2 (I think) and in the third/fourth play-off Ben won 6-2, 6-3. The Boy's 12 & Under doubles was played with a great deal of light heartedness Sam & Ben eventually winning tgeir toughest opening match in a tie break and then cruised to an overall win. The Hilton twins had lots of fun but were generally outclassed but gained loads of doubles matchplay experience.Thursday will have the Boy’s 14 & Under, the 10 & Under Mixed and the 9&Under mixed competitions with Friday no programme showing. There are no girl’s events due to lack of entries and likewise no Boy’s 16 & under was undersubscribed.
Thursday 2nd August
Just a bit of updating: I missed the fact, yesterday, that Ollie Hilton (a former member) reached the final of the Consolation where he was runner up. Also that Harry Robinson beat Jake Hilton to reach the semi-final of the 12 & Under consolation but was beaten in the semi-finals.
Today at Thornden the Mixed 9 & under was won by Marcin Kornijczuk and the Mixed 10s by Orek Kudla (former Thornden player). Daisy Robinson was also in action in the Mixed 10& under. In the more serious Boy’s 14 & Under Ashton Kerslake lost in the first round but Ben Hatfield progressed to the second round. Sam Ardley progressed to the Semi final as did Freddie Swain but Ben unfortunately was beaten by the #1 seed. Vishaal Vinodhkumar lost in the first round also in his first tournament and opted out of the consolation. Ashton Kerslake therefore played in the Final of the Consolation losing out so ended up runner up.
Friday 3rd August
The Semi-finals of the Boy’s 14 & Under singles had Sam Ardley winning 6-2, 6-2 before he went on to win the Final 6-0, 6-4. That is half the story: in his final he went behind 3-1 before winning 5 games to poor old Rory’s 1! That is the second time in two days he had played his “Get Out of Jail Free” card!
The 14 & Under Doubles went according to plan for Sam. He joined with Freddie Swain, winning their first match 4-2, 4-0, the second 4-2, 4-0 and the last one 4-1, 4-1 to be the only pair to win all three of their Round Robin matches. Ashton Kerslake paired up with another lower rating player and while they did not win a match they won games and even received praise from their opponents that the match was much closer than the score.
We can say that the week belonged to Victor Ludorum Sam Ardley who won the Boys 12 & Under Singles and Doubles and the Boy’s 14 & Under singles and doubles. Time for a bigger trophy cabinet Sharon & David?
Many thanks to Chris & Jenny Whiting who kept the events running smoothly as ever. A disappointing entry but really gratifying to see so many Thornden players taking part – even if one of them took all the main prizes!
Title: Eddie Cochran, 1958 – yep and I do remember this one!