Day 2 of the 2022 Grade 3 Grantham Summer Open consisted of singles and doubles matches, along with the first finals of the tournament.
A 9am start welcomed the 10U boys’ singles, 14U boys’ singles, and 18U boys’ singles. Noah Leuty and Fraser Hart both played in the 10U boys’ singles, but despite their best efforts were knocked out at the round of 16, and then unfortunately knocked out of the consolation. In an extra match for both players, Noah and Fraser competed against each other in a fast-4 contest, as Fraser came out on top in a 4-2, 4-2 win. Alex Harris looked to continue his strong 18U tournament against first seed Theo Coats in the semi-final, but the eventual 18U boys’ singles competition winner came out on top with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Coats then went on to beat Jakob Bennett in the final (4-6, 6-2, 11-9). Congratulations to Theo, but a huge congratulations to GTC’s Alex Harris on a fantastic journey!
There were GTC entries into the 14U boys’ doubles and 18U boys’ doubles, as Toby Park, accompanied by James Beale, battled hard against the first-seeded partners of Conrad Brown and Ben Rudkin. However, they were on the wrong side of a 6-2, 6-2 score line after a great battle that deserved more than the score line shows. Similarly, brothers Alex and Josh Harris were on the wrong side of a final set tiebreak defeat, this time against the second-seed partners Seth Briggs-Williams and Oliver Hudson.
Into the evening session, Alex’s doubles luck didn’t improve as he and Mark Harris lost in another close battle, again losing in a third-set tiebreak. Joe Patton couldn’t follow up his Monday evening singles win, as he faced second-seed Jack Pickering and despite a performance full of positives, he lost 6-3, 6-3. Not long after this, Joe joined Richard Surtees in the men’s’ doubles quarter-final, versing Theo Coats and Jack Minski. A difficult evening pursued for Joe and Richard, with a 6-0, 6-1 loss, as the duo of Coats and Minski proved too difficult for Joe and Richard. Finally, pairing Peter Moseley and Kelvin Soley played a fantastic game against a strong partnership of Andrew Laurel and Jack Pickering, but the theme of the evening continued for the GTC, with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat.
Despite what seemed a bad day for the GTC players, every player enjoyed the experience of playing in the Grantham Open and showed a great attitude to their matches.