The Final -
Nat Pacitto def. Seb Mckinstry
Nat concluded a perfect tournament - where he barely dropped a game, let alone a set - with another straight sets defeat of a battling Seb (6-3; 6-1).
Having played a tight Men Doubles Finals just before, Nat took a little time to find his range and Seb nearly took advantage in the first set. Our promising youngster served well, went for his shots and made Nat move as much as possible to remain on serve up to 3all.
At that point, Nat stopped missing and that was pretty much that. Too powerfully on serve and aggressive on his returning games, there was not much Seb could do to stop him. Too good.
Congrats to our winner, after all a coach had to win it, right?
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Semi-Finals
*Semi-Final 1 = Nat Pacitto def. Kevin Bhunjun.
Nat kept is march through the draw going with an emphatic straight set win over last year's runner up. Kevin battled hard but could not dent Nat's confidence on serve and general speed of play. Can his opponent in the final do any better?
*Semi-Final 2 = Seb Mckinstry def. Olivier Chateauneuf.
In the battle of the Year 11s, on a bright Friday evening, Seb got the better of Olivier 6-4; 6-2. Seb was "painting the lines" as they say and once he broke Olivier's server at 4-all in the first, he grew in confidence even more and motored ahead to close out the match.
Olivier never reached the levels he deployed in the semis, but the credit goes to a relentless Seb that kept him off balance all game.
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Quarter-Finals
*Quarter-Final 1 = Nat Pacitto def. Manoj Kumar
Nat did not waste any time to motor his way through to the semis with a straightforward win over Manoj… After winning the Doubles last year, can anybody stop him in the singles this time around?
*Quarter-Final 2 = Kevin Bhunjun def. Ivan Mazepa.
Kevin took 2 days to defeat Ivan in straight sets... Yep, their match was postponed after the first set because of persistent heavy rain and resumed the next evening. Kevin wrapped up his win and went on to challenge Nat in the semis the following day.
*Quarter-Final 3 = Olivier Chateauneuf def. Charlie Harrison
Olivier made it through from a set down (4-6; 6-4; 10-5) in a high-level encounter with Charlie. The small crowd (well, 4 of us 😊) gathered to watch the match were treated to a very entertaining game. Big serves, long rallies, winners from both wings… The boys went for it throughout and it was not a surprised that it went to a Championship Tiebreaker. A very good watch.
*Quarter-Final 4 = Seb Mckinstry def. David Hampson
Seb won that one after winning a single set (6-2) because David sadly had to withdraw mid match because of a recurring wrist injury… Hope you recover soon David.
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Round 1 Matches
*Nat Pacitto def. David Lindsay
Nat secured a routine straight-sets win against David in what his is first match in the Club Championship in a while… One to watch me thinks.
*Manoj Kumar def. Joseph Cuddy
It took a “2-hour battle” for Manoj to emerge the 6-4; 6-4 winner in his match against Joseph Cuddy, one of our promising youngsters.
*Ivan Mazepa – Walkover – Patrice Chateauneuf
Patrice withdrew from the draw, Ivan is through to the Quarters.
*Kevin Bhunjun def. Jerzy Basiurski
Another straight sets victory for Kev against Jerzy... With Matty – the defending champion – absent this time around, could it be the turn of last years’ runner up to go all the way and keep the Bhunjun name on the trophy? Long way to go, but a solid start.
*Charlie Harrison def. Jason Cuddy
We will have to wait a little longer to get the Cuddy’s name on the Men’s trophy…
Charlie went through 6-2; 6-0 and described the match for us: “It was actually a tougher match than the scoreline shows, with a couple of deuce games on Jason's serve. I served well, meaning I didn't face any pressure to hold which made Jason's task much harder. He played a good, aggressive game throughout and struck the ball nicely, leading to some high-quality points which I really enjoyed.”
*Olivier Chateauneuf def. Richard Ratcliff
Olivier and Richard had a ‘big serves’ battle eventually won in straight sets (6-3; 6-3) by Olivier.
*Seb Mckinstry def. Derick Barrett
Seb made it through in straight sets.
*David Hampson – Walkover – Sam Close
Sam withdrew from the draw, David is through to the Quarters.