www.bostonbuzz.co.uk

The prime platform for Boston and District sports news

TENNIS

All the up-to-date news from Boston Tennis Club

September 2006

News for week ending Sunday September 24

The outstanding feature of Boston Tennis Clubs first team’s success in winning the Lincolnshire Doubles League is the over-riding memory remaining from this year’s season.

The results of the rest of the club’s teams competing in the league reflect steady performances leaving most of the teams near the top of the table or at the mid-point. Andrew Cook, the captain of the men’s first team will be pleased that the team regained the title in 2006 that the team narrowly lost last year.

The final position of the ladies first team is in third place. And the team, disappointed to lose the title will have to wait until next season for the opportunity to win it back. The ladies’ first team lost out to Bourne in the last match of the season. It was a 2-7 result for the team of Rachel Atkinson, Danielle Frankish, Ashleigh Frankish, Jenny McGarel, Kathie Dawson and Mary Smura.

The ladies fourth team also lost out in the last match of the season against Appleby Frodingham. It was tough opposition for the team of Sue Dring, Lyn Capes, Ailsa Linnell, Lesley Wright, Helen Motson and Tricia Sweeeny. And rubbers were elusive despite several tie-breaks. However the team remains in Division Two having gained promotion last year — a good performance.

Also in Division Two of the league the ladies’ third team finished a creditable third. The second and fifth teams both remain in their respective divisions.

The men’s sixth team had a busy weekend fitting in two re-arranged matches. Both matches were losses for the sixths but nevertheless the team has had a solid season. Both the sixth and the fifth teamS, in Division Three, occupy mid-table positions.

Playing in the first match of the team’s hectic weekend schedule were Mike Sweeney, Louis Warren, Chris Sweeney, Guy Butters, Robert Linnell and Connor Trigg. For Connor, playing in his first Lincolnshire League match, the 2-7 loss did not dampen his appetite for more tennis. And on Sunday he was in action again against Spilsby. Yet again there was a loss of 1-8. But alongside Louis Warren, the pair won the sole rubber. The rest of the team playing at Spilsby included Mike Sweeney, George Dann, Sev Smura and Robert Linnell. The third and fourth teams have finished safe in the middle of division two. However the seconds are near the bottom of the division and wait on other results to see their final placement but relegation for the team looks likely.

Playing for Lincolnshire on Saturday at the Sixteen Counties competition held at Corby were Ashleigh Frankish and Kathie Dawson. Lincolnshire are grouped alongside Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hereford and Worcester. The girls were playing in the under 14 Lincolnshire team that finished second behind Cambridgeshire.

Lewis Fisher, Emily Hawkesworth, Sophie Hawkesworth, James Niedermeier and Beth Ridlington all reached the finals of the under-12 Lincolnshire Challenge that was played on Sunday. To qualify for the finals the competitors had to have won or been a runner-up in tournaments that were held around the county throughout the spring and the summer.

In the finals Lewis Fisher came second while James Niedermeier and Emily Hawkesworth finished in third place. Joe Woolley was the runner-up in the Lincolnshire Mini-Tennis Green competition. Originally to be held during the Lincolnshire Junior County Closed Championships, bad weather meant that this competition had to be postponed. It was played last weekend and it was a high standard throughout. Reaching the quarter-finals were Boston’s Jonathan Trevor and Ryan Walsh while Joe Woolley just missed out in the final.

News for week ending Sunday September 10

Boston Tennis Club has played host to two big tournaments this week. All week the Tropicana British Tour has been taking place on the indoor tennis centre. Meanwhile on Sunday, Boston Tennis Club’s open mixed tournament sponsored by Marriotts Mazda took place.

The Tropicana British Tour is a series of 20 tournaments held around the country that provide a stepping-stone for up and coming players. This year the tournaments culminate in a masters’ event that will be held at the beginning of December for the top 24 men and women players who come through from the series of events. Several players from Boston Tennis Club played in the early stages of the tournament including Andrew Cook, Will Mason and James Shacklock, but it was Samantha Vickers who progressed through the draw to the final stages.

Fifteen-year-old Samantha in her early round dispatched the number two seed in two sets, and then won her next match in three sets. Producing some excellent tennis in the final the home player was unlucky to lose the first set on a tie–break and then slip 0-3 down in the second set. Steadying herself Samantha pulled the second set back to 5-5 but lost the next two games against the 17-year-old Annabel Bann (Surrey). Therefore Annabel Bann (Surrey) and Kyle Brassington (Yorkshire) were the latest winners on the Tropicana British Tour to emerge from the tournament held at Boston.

In the open mixed tournament sponsored by Marriotts Mazda, Richard Cook and Samantha Green were the overall winners. All competitors enjoyed a great day with the weather excelling itself.

From the group stages of the tournament the semi finalists emerged — Ashleigh Frankish and Simon Bush, Richard Cook and Samantha Green, Andrew and Emma Cook, Katie Taylor and Michael Emery. It was Katie Taylor (Norfolk) and Michael Emery who won through an entertaining match against Ashleigh and Simon to meet Samantha and Richard in the final. Already having met in the group stages when the pairs had drawn there was no nonsense from the Boston duo as Richard and Samantha went on to win 6-2.

In the KIA national Club League Boston Ladies second team won through the county round to move in to the Regional play off for a place next season in National Division Two. With two matches to play the team moved one step nearer this goal as the team had a good 4-2 result against Leicester Forest East. The team — Samantha Vickers, Joanna Purkiss Rachel Atkinson and Faye Button — went 3-1 up after the singles round. A win in the doubles round was gained giving the winning result. The remaining match will be played during October against a Northampton-based club.

*****

The 80th Lincolnshire Junior County Closed Tennis Championships took place at Boston Tennis Club. With the number of players taking part exceeding last year, the week-long tournament got off to a good start with juniors representing all the areas of Lincolnshire. With deteriorating weather throughout the week both the players and the organisers were tested.

However all of the finals were successfully completed on the Saturday and spectators were treated to some excellent matches and a good standard of tennis. Both James Shacklock (Tennis Buddies-Boston-Sleaford) and Samantha Vickers (Tennis Buddies) successfully defended the under 18 boys’ and girls’ singles titles that they won at last year’s event. Both players are also under-16 singles champions and both are the holders of the under 18 doubles title.

In the under 18 boys’ and girls’ singles James Snape (St James) and Danielle Frankish (Boston) were the runners up respectively. James Povah (Boston) was the boys’ under-16 runner-up and Hannah Hume (David Lloyd Burton Waters) the runner up in the under-16 girls’ event.

In the under-18 boys’ doubles James Shacklock partnered by Steve Green (Boston) won his third title of the tournament beating Edward Fowler (Boston) and Will Mason (Spalding). Adding to the two titles that she defended Samantha Vickers went one better by winning the treble this year when she partnered Kathie Dawson (Boston) in the under-18 girls’ doubles. Samantha won this event for the first time after forming a new partnership with Kathie when her original partner had to withdraw with an injury. The runners up were Danielle Frankish and Faye Button (Boston). Hannah Hume (David Lloyd Burton Waters) is the holder of the under-14 girls’ singles title. Danielle Smith (David Lloyd Burton Waters), who was the runner up in the under-14 singles final, partnered Hannah to win the under-14 girls’ doubles. The runners-up were Ashleigh Frankish (Boston) and Olivia Pratt (Tennis Buddies). Kathie Dawson is the winner of the under-12 girls’ singles with Laura Twidale (Kingston Park) the runner-up.

Michael Suleau (Grange Park) retained his under-14 boys’ title with David Scales (Eastgate) the runner-up. The under-12 boys title was won by Domonic Banks (Boston) with Harry Burley (St James) the runner-up. In the under-14 boys’ doubles the final was between Will Ryan (David Lloyd Burton Waters) and Michael Suleau against Harry Burley and Domonic Banks. Will and Michael won this event in a two set final. In fact all of the finals were won in two sets with the exception of the girls’ under-10 final, which Katy Darke (Tennis Buddies) won in the third set against Madeline Verdegaal (Boston). In the under-10 event the boys’ final was between Tom Logan (David Lloyd Burton Waters) and Sebastian Darke with Tom Logan becoming the new holder of the title.

The week’s proceedings were wound up with the presentations of trophies to the winners and runners up. Appreciation was expressed to the tournament referee, Tony Stamp for the smooth running of the tournament particularly with such difficult weather to contend with.

News for week ending Sunday September 3

In the Lincolnshire Doubles Tennis League, the Boston men’s third team playing in Division Two for the last match of the season, were up against Gainsborough and won 6-3. The team comprised John Gibson, James Shacklock, Ray Frankish, Kevin Hawkesworth, Matthew Gibson and Callum Simmons. The team has finished overall mid-table with five wins and four losses this season with three of the losses being narrow 4-5 defeats.

The ladies second team secured their place in Division Two for the next year with a 5-4 win against Bourne. With two wins prior to this game, the seconds needed a win to be sure of avoiding demotion.

The match could not have been closer for the team of Catherine Ellis, Danielle Frankish, Jenny McGarel, Lucy Fowler, Mary Smura and Ashleigh Frankish. At 1-2 down after the first round, all was level at the end of the second and Boston finished ahead at the conclusion.

Amazingly, all of the Boston five rubbers were won in third set tie-breaks with only one of them having a bigger margin than two points. The sixth men’s team played its penultimate match against St James fourth team. The team of Mike Sweeney, Sev Smura, James Sweeney, Louis Warren, Chris Sweeney and Guy Butters was hardly threatened as the team swept to an 8-1 result.

The number of competitors was greater than ever for this year’s Lincolnshire Junior County Closed. Youngsters from all over Lincolnshire took part in the week-long tournament held at Boston Tennis Club.

The overall winners of the under-18 age groups were James Shacklock and Samantha Vickers. The latter not only successfully defended both of her under-16 and under-18 titles, but she also collected the under-18 girls’ doubles with Kathie Dawson, who stepped in when Samantha’s original partner was injured. James Shacklock not only powered through with some incisive tennis to win against James Povah in the final of the under-18 age group, but also added the under-16 age group title to his tally.

Finally, James teamed up with Steven Green to win the under-18 doubles against Edward Fowler and Will Mason. Kathie Dawson was the winner of the under-12 girls final. By stepping in to play the doubles alongside Samantha, she was moving up quite a few age groups.

In the under-10 girls Madeline Verdegaal was the girls’ runner-up, losing out in a third set tie-break to Katie Darke. The bad weather later in the week curtailed some of the events so that the younger age groups played abbreviated matches. Emily Hawkesworth reached the semi-finals but also lost out in a third set tie-break to Katie Darke the eventual winner.

In the under-10 age group Lewis Fisher and James Niedermeier reached the semis but missed out on a final place. Danielle Frankish was runner-up in the under-18 age group and with partner Faye Button was runner-up in the under-18 doubles. Henry Warren was presented with the Peter Fincham Memorial Trophy for his overall willingness and helpfulness during the tournament.