| >>Tournament Photo Gallery 30th CHESHAM BOIS JUNIOR OPEN TOURNAMENT 2008 Chesham Bois LTC 30th annual Open Junior Tennis Tournament coincided with the Club’s Centenary and the 50th anniversary of our move to the current site. Finals day proved to be dry and warm with no wind, ideal tennis weather after a week when the elements threatened to bring it to a halt and matches had to be reduced to short sets, single deuces and tiebreakers. Bank holiday Monday was a day of continuous heavy rain and strong winds making any play impossible. The weather continued to disrupt play throughout the rest of the week and many thanks are due to Chesham 1879 who facilities enabled the tournament to continue. Play at 1879 had its moments exemplified when a duck landed on the court only to be struck by a serve. Fortunately only the duck’s pride was injured. As 2008 is Chesham Bois LT&SC’s Centenary year, Roger Draper; Chief Executive of the LTA came to present the trophies. During the afternoon of this Grade 3 ranking tournament he had the opportunity to view the club’s excellent facilities and see some top rate tennis, including a rising British hopeful Kyra Akinnibi who, though only 10, reached the finals of U18 Girls singles. At the awards ceremony he spoke of how he quickly had a sense of the club he was visiting and congratulated all those responsible for its really great atmosphere. The finals themselves produced some memorable tennis and the boys’ singles produced some really tight matches. The18 & Under Boys singles produced a long and very tactical match with last years’ winner Andrew Coates taking the first set on a tiebreaker and coming back from 1-4 in the championship tiebreaker against Joshua Oxley to retain his title. The 16 & Under Boys final was a fine display of aggressive tennis by both players with the 6th seed Adam Skalsky taking the title from the no 1 seed 6-3, 6-3 and in the 14 & Under George Irwin and Samm Butler produced two closely fought sets with George winning 7-5, 6-4. The 12 and 10 & Under finals produced straightforward wins for Tintin Smith and Toby Rogers Respectively. In the 18 & Under Boys doubles Joshua Oxley and Alexander Barnes proved a little too strong for Kieran Muir & Ben Smith but Kieran reversed the tables in the mixed doubles partnering with Megan Cunningham, whose tennis was the deciding factor, to beat Joshua and his partner Emma Strong. The two other boys’ doubles, 14 and 12 & Under were both decided in two closely fought sets with Samm Butler & Michael Patch and Alexander Fage & Calum Mackinlay taking the respective titles. The girls’ singles were in general more one sided with Heather McNeill beating the young Kyra Akinibi 6-0, 6-2 for the 18 & Under crown, Rianka Patel taking both the 16 and 14 & Under titles with a win over Sarah Spanswick 6-1, 6-4 in the former and a walkover in the latter. The 12 & Under produced the one close match with Marie Ba taking the first set form Hollie Davies on a tiebreaker and going in to win 7-6, 6-3. In the 10 an under Natasha Commins proved just a little too strong for Grace Morales winning 4-4, 4-2. Grace Russell & Sarah Brunswick took the 18 & Under girls doubles title with a Straightforward 6-0, 6-2 win over Claire Birmingham and Georgia Morrison and the 12 & Under winners were Jessica De Mulder and Chloe Lunt by 6-4, 6-0 against Anna Sinclair and Gabriela Web. In a year with limited home club entries Christian Slater reached the quarter finals of the 14& Under singles and the Schweppes Award for the Chesham Bois player playing progressing furthest in the tournament was won by Jamie McKinnon who lost a close quarter final match 7-5, 7-5 to the number 1 seed in the 16 & Under and, having beaten two higher ranked players, lost to the number 5 seed Kieran Muir in the third round of the 18 & Under. The Awards for sportsmanship and general behaviour where presented to Heather McNeill (Gill Nunn Trophy) and Kieran Muir (Stackhouse Trophy). Again a huge vote of thanks is due to the Junior Tournament committee headed by the indefatigable Alison Maloney, the ever patient Tournament Referee Sarah Tricks ably supported by her assistant Sheila Smith, the team of Umpires and of course all the volunteers who provide the continuous supply of catering required to satisfy the needs of the ever hungry competitors. Photographs: >> TOURNAMENT PHOTO GALLERY - Winners and beat of the main and consolation events together with Roger Draper CEO of the LTA who presented the prizes.
- Roger Draper with Jamie Mckinnon, winner of the Schweppes Award for the Chesham Bois player playing progressing furthest in the tournament
- Adam Skalsky, winner of the Boys 16& Under singles in full flow
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