Chesham Bois Tennis Club Championship Finals Day
Sunday 24th September 2023
Another year and another finals day and although the weather was not quite up to last years standard, dry but with a gusting wind, they same cannot be said for the tennis where we had a mix of the usual regulars and some new and exciting talent on show, especially from our juniors.
As we have come to expect the tennis was played in with friendly rivalry watched by a good crowd of family, friends and club members with refreshments available, very necessary as we had some extremely long hard-fought matches.
The Men’s Singles featured two different finalists from 2023 although, like both of last year’s, one of them was an Adam. Adam Reid, the winner in 2021, was pitted against one of our exciting new youngsters Christian Grant (16), whose has grown in stature both physically and in terms of his tennis. Adam played with his usual determination but Christian’s controlled aggression gave him the upper hand winning 6-2, 6-2.
In the Ladies Singles event, last year’s champion Emily Koya was in fine form and overcame Marina Theorodoraki 6-0, 6-0 to retain her crown.
Yanjie Wang had an early start in defence of her Ladies Vets Singles, this year facing a new opponent Gemma Osborne, who raced out of the starting gate to take the first set 6-2 with some aggressive and accurate tennis. However, Yanjie does not give up easily and using a clever mix of different shots created real problems for Gemma with most games going to deuce. The second set eventually went to a tie break which Gemma, after over 2 hours of play, finally won 11-9 and with it the match.
In defence of his Men’s Vets Single title Jonathan Grant faced a new opponent, Paul Matthews. The windy conditions seemed to have a real effect on Jonathan who took some time to get into his stride against an unorthodox opponent. The first set see-sawed between them, but once he had won that 7-5 the second set was more straightforward, taking it 6-2 and with it retained his title.
The Men’s Doubles was the first of three finals for Stuart Foster who with Matt Reid were last year’s runners-up. This time they were facing another exciting junior Harry Cornhill (14) and his partner Richard Saul. This turned out to be a long hard-fought battle with Stuart and Matt taking the first set 7-5 but then the power and athleticism of Harry’s game proved the deciding factor in he and Richard winning the next two sets 6-4, 6-2.
In the Mixed Doubles event, Stuart Foster, last year’s runners-up, played his second match of the day, partnered by Kelly Adams versus Fede Brenes Barzuna and Sarah Skepper. This proved another lengthy match where the advantage swung back and forth. Fede is a mercurial left hander where a stream of winners and errors provide an exciting mix, especially when contrasted with their opponents’ skill and consistency. Fede and Sarah took the first set 7-5 with Stuart and Kelly the second 6-2. The final set went to a tie-breaker where, as so often in tennis the result can turn on a single point. In this case at the crucial moment in the tie-breaker an uncharacteristic error gave Fede and Sarah the advantage, winning the tie-breaker 7-5 and with it the match. This year was the first when the Jeremy Evans Cup was presented for this event. This is in memory of a longstanding member, team player, committee member and Men’s 1st team captain Jeremy Evans who died at only 63 having suffered from cancer and them dementia caused by the treatment.
The Family Doubles matched Louise Dobby and her daughter Charlotte Dobby against Pippa Pearson and her son Henry. This contained some really excellent tennis and the 6-1, 6-1 score in favour of Louise and Charlotte didn’t truly reflect the competitiveness of the game.
Due to both the length of some of the matches, the fact that the pairing of Sarah Skepper and Kelly Adams were involved in the Mixed Doubles and the restriction against the use of Floodlights on Sundays, the Ladies Doubles match versus Louise Dobby and Adriana Wong had to be suspended. The match was completed at a later date and Sarah and Kelly took the title 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
The same problem affected the Vets Mixed Doubles event where Stuart Foster and Richard Saul faced each other for the second time with new partners, Stuart with Cath Lavery and Richard with Alita Davern. The match was nicely balanced at one set all when night fell and on its conclusion Stuart and Cath won 2-6, 7-6, 7-6.
Not content with their singles battle, Gemma and Yanjie found themselves facing each other across the net in the Ladies Vets Doubles final. Gemma was playing with Susie Stranders while Yanjie Partnered Julie Pledge. Again, Gemma came out on top as she and Julie took the title 6-2, 6-3.
Due to a family emergency the Men’s Vets Double final between Chris Babington and Geoff Williams versus Jonathan Grant had to be delayed to a later date. This ended in a win for Chris and Geoff 6-4, 6-2.and in the Men’s Over 60 Jerzy Stera had a walkover in his match with Roy Coffer to retain the Henry Wadlow Cup.
As with the seniors, the junior tournament saw some good tussles. In the 8 & Under Mixed Singles, despite a two-year age gap and considerable height difference, Joe Reid took the first set 10-6 before Krishi Koya won the next two 10-4, 10-6 to take the title.
Both the 9 & Under and 10 & Under Boys Singles events were competed for by the Whibley twins Leo and Max. Both matches contained some fine attacking tennis and good defence with the twins very evenly matched, but, in the end, Leo edged both titles.
As with many of the senior events, the 11 & Under Boys Singles between Oliver Watson and Felix Stera turned out to be a long match. Oliver took the first set 6-4 and Felix the second by the same score. They then went into a 3rd Set Championship Tiebreaker which Felix won 10-5 to take the title.
The presentations were made by Tennis Chairman Wayne Stretch with the Keith Dewick Award going to Gemma Osborne for her tireless work in helping to build the Junior section and Community, and reviving Friday Junior Night and making it an outstanding success. He thanked Louise for so successfully running her first senior club championship and Yanjie for the Juniors section.
The results of the consolation events are set out below in the full table of results, together with the junior results where it was rather disappointing to see there were no entries to the girls’ events.
Note for the members. If you want a copy of any of the photographs, just email me at phc@talk21.com and I will send them to you.
PH 28-09-23
| Club Championships Senior 2023 Results | ||
| Event | Between | Winner(s) & score |
| Ladies Singles | Emily Koya | Emily Koya |
| Marina Theorodoraki | 6-0 6-0 | |
| Ladies Vets Singles | Yanjie Wang | Gemma Osborne |
| Gemma Osborne | 6-2 7-6 (11-9) | |
| Mens Singles | Adam Reid | Christian Grant |
| Christian Grant | 6-2 6-2 | |
| Mens Singles Consolation | Fede Brenes Barzuna | Fede Brenes Barzuna |
| Howie Mantell | w/o | |
| Mens Vets Singles | Jonathan Grant | Jonathan Grant |
| Paul Matthews | 7-5 6-2 | |
| Mens Vets Singles Consolation | Wayne Stretch | Roy Cox |
| Roy Cox | 6-1 6-2 | |
| Mens O60s singles | Jerzy Stera | Jerzy Stera |
| Roy Coffer | w/o | |
| Mens O60 consolation | Ken Lau | Ken Lau |
| Tom Crabbe | 6-2 6-0 | |
| Ladies Doubles | Sarah Skepper | Sarah Skepper and Kelly Adams |
| Kelly Adams | 6-2 3-6 7-5 | |
| Louise Dobby | ||
| Adriana Wong | ||
| Ladies Doubles plate | Karen Keen | Alison Williams and Julia Kemp |
| Kathryn Moushino | w/o | |
| Alison Williams | ||
| Julia Kemp | ||
| Ladies Vets Doubles | Susie Stranders | Susie Stranders and |
| Gemma Osborne | Gemma Osborne | |
| Yanjie Wang | 6-2 6-3 | |
| Julie Pledge | ||
| Ladies Vets doubles consolation | Klaartje Millington-Vest | Klaartje Millington-Vest |
| Deborah Henderson | and Deborah henderson | |
| Sophie Hillyier | 4-6 7-5 6-1 | |
| Mallory Hughes | ||
| Mens Doubles | Harry Cornhill | Harry Cornhill and |
| Richard Saul | Richard Saul | |
| matt Reid | 5-7 6-4 6-2 | |
| Stuart Foster | ||
| Mens Doubles Consolation | Timothy Yeoh | Simon Reynolds and John Bleakley |
| Mark Danks | 6-0 6-2 | |
| Simon Reynolds | ||
| John Bleakley | ||
| Mens Vets Doubles | Paul Sweeney | Chris Babington and |
| Jonathan Grant | Geoff Williams | |
| Chris Babington | 6-4 6-2 | |
| Geoff Williams | ||
| Mens Vets Doubles Consolation | Chris Kay | Jacob Pilbeam and Ken Lau |
| Richard Caslon | 6-4 6-1 | |
| Jacob Pilbeam | ||
| Ken Lau | ||
| Mixed Doubles | Sarah Skepper | Sarah Skepper and |
| Fede Brenes Barzuna | Fede Brenes Barzuna | |
| Kelly Adams | 7-5 2-6 7-6 (7-5) | |
| Stuart Foster | ||
| Mixed Doubles Consolation | Julie Simpson | Julie Simpson and |
| Paul Valdez | Paul Valdez | |
| Oliver Osborn | w/o | |
| Yanjie Wang | ||
| Mixed Vets Doubles | Richard Saul | Stuart Foster and Cath Lavery |
| Alita Davern | 2-6 7-6 7-6 | |
| Stuart Foster | ||
| Cath Lavery | ||
| Mixed Vets Doubles Consolation | Russell Cooper | Sharon Gurney and Kane Marshall |
| Amanda Cooper | 7-5 6-2 | |
| Sharon Gurney | ||
| Kane Marshall | ||
| Family Doubles | Louise Dobby | Louise Dobby and |
| Charlotte Dobby | Charlotte Dobby | |
| Pippa Pearson | 6-1 6-1 | |
| Henry Pearson | ||
| Club Championships Junior 2023 Results | ||
| Event | Between | Winner(s) & score |
| 8 & Under Mixed Singles | Krishi Koya | Krishi Koya |
| Jo Read | 6-10 10-4 10-6 | |
| 9 & Under Boys Singles | Theo Whibley | Theo Whibley |
| Max Whibley | 7-5 7-5 | |
| 10 & Under Boys Singles | Theo Whibley | Theo Whibley |
| Max Whibley | 4-1 4-2 | |
| 11 & Under Boys Singles | Felix Stera | Felix Stera |
| Oliver Watson | 4-6 6-4 10-5 | |
| Junior Doubles | Dilllon Ranauta | Dilllon Ranauta |
| Oliver Osborne | Oliver Osborne | |
| Lucan Moran | 6-1 6-1 | |
| Henry Pearson | ||