Wessex Heartbeat League Team Victories

Two of the Totally Tennis teams who are competing in the Wessex Heartbeat Winter League had a very successful weekend in their latest matches. The Under Sixteen team of performance players Liam Hignett, Miles Bromilow, Alex Dawson and Dylan Allenby-Ryan,who are competing in Division One, beat Thornden 12-0.

In the singles, Hignett beat James Blair 6-2, 6-1, Bromilow defeated Harry Dunnett 6-4, 6-1, Dawson beat Mats Colling 6-0, 6-0 and Allenby-Ryan kept up the clean score sheet with a three set victory against Adam Allen-Rogers 7-6, 1-6, 10-4. In the doubles, the boys continued their good form with Sherfield School tennis scholars duo Hignett/Bromilow beating Blair/Dunnett 6-0, 6-2 and Dawson/Allenby-Ryan defeating Colling/Allen-Rogers in a close three set battle 6-4, 2-6, 10-6 to win 12-0 overall and get their season off to a great start.

Head coach James McIntosh said, “Well done to the Under 16 boys! A great start for the boys who won all of their matches against Thornden. Hopefully they can keep up their good form in the upcoming fixtures against Denmead and Winchester.”

The Under 9 Mixed team of Mini Performance players Theo Harrison, Eduard Lakatos, Kirsty Da Silva and Amberly Chapman were also successful in their match beating Compton & Shawford. The team who are playing in Division One are competing in Group A won the singles matches with Harrison beating Ben Hatfield 4-7, 7-4, 7-4 and Jake Leake 7-1, 7-0, Lakatos defeating Ameila Lott 7-0, 7-3 and Louisa Patterson 7-0, 7-3 and Chapman also winning her two matches beating Patterson 7-5, 7-5 and Lott 7-4, 7-2. Da Silva beat Leake 7-0, 7-2 but lost to Hatfield in a three battle 7-5, 6-8, 7-0. In the doubles Lakatos/Chapman beat Lott/Patterson 7-2, 7-1 and Harrison/Da Silva were beaten by Hatfield/Leake 7-2, 7-1 to give the Totally Tennis team overall victory 16-4.

McIntosh said, “This was the Under 9’s first fixture in the league and they got off to a great start winning 18 out of the 20 matches played. All of the players played some great tennis and we look forward to the next fixture which is on Sunday 25th January against David Lloyd Southampton.”

The Wessex Heartbeat Winter Junior League is a county competition and a percentage of the entry fee from each of the participating clubs goes towards the Wessex Heartbeat Foundation.

QMC Boys A Team Through To Knock Out Stages

The consistently strong Queen Marys College Boys A Team of Loic Armstrong, Nick Dingwall, Adam Hood and Luke Watts won their final group match away against Rikkyo in the Senior Students competition. In the singles, the boys kept a clean sheet with Armstrong, Dingwall and Watts all winning 6-0 and Hood defeating his opponent 7-5. The run of good form continued in the doubles with Armstong/Dingwall winning 6-0 and Hood/Watts won their match 6-1.

The Victorious Boys A Team (L to R) Adam Hood, Luke Watts, Nick Dingwall and Loic Armstrong

The Boys A team are therefore undefeated in the group stages and go through to knock out stages where they will face local rivals Peter Symonds College from Winchester away on 21st January.

QMC PE teacher and tennis team manager Sarah Goldson said, “It was great to see the boys come through the group stages again for the sixth year in a row. However the Rikkyo team were not as strong as they normally are and we are aware there are significantly tougher challenges ahead, starting with the first match against Peter Symonds in the New Year!”

In the girls competition, the Rikkyo girls team were significantly stronger than the boys and with one win out of four in the singles and two losses in the doubles meant a 10-2 loss overall for the QMC girls. Holly Groves was the only singles winner with a 6-2 victory and Beth Lowe lost 6-2, Sarah Winkle lost 6-4 and Georgia Hunt lost 6-0. In the Doubles Lowe/Groves lost 6-3 and Hunt/Winkle lost 6-2.

Goldson said, “Despite the defeat against Rikkyo the girls are playing increasingly more consistently and will be joined by the colleges top seed Kelsey Mosquera in the next competition, the Aberdare Cup which starts in February/March.”

(L to R) Holly Groves, Sarah Winkle and Georgia Hunt

In the final girls match in the group, the team played St Swithuns away and with only three girls available Kelsey Mosquera played in the fourth spot although her results did not count as her rating is too high to play in this competition. The scoreline finished 8-4 to St Swithuns.

(l to R) Lowe, Mosquera, Groves and Winkle

Goldson said, “In the Boys B team group, the final match in the group was conceeded by Worthing College due to a lack of players, the QMC B Team finished second in the group, their best result for some years.The Mixed team as anticipated did not go through due to their result against St George’s which proved to be the decisive match.”

She added “With the Boys A team securing a place in the knock out stages, this will be the sixth year the College have been represented in this stage. In the New Year as well as the next stage of this competition, next term also sees the start of the Aberdare and Glanvil National Cup in which we have entered two boys teams and one girls team.“

World Tennis Day: Results

As reported yesterday, March 3rd was World Tennis Day. The annual global celebration of tennis promoted tennis participation throughout the world and included three showdown events in New York, London and Hong Kong with professional players on the same day as grassroots participation events at clubs and courts around the globe.

NEW YORK

Bryan Twins, Bob and Mike warming up for their match against the McEnroe brothers (source:www.worldtennisday.com/newyork)

It was a family affair as World number one doubles pair, the Bryan twins thrilled the crowds in the opening match at Madison Square Gardens in New York beating tennis legend John McEnroe and his brother Patrick 8-3 in the pro set.

Tennis veteran and legend John McEnroe back on court yesterday (source:www.worldtennisday.com/newyork)

Next up was the much anticipated rematch of the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon finals between British number one and current Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray and world number two Novak Djokovic. Murray may have been the victor in the two Grand Slam finals but yesterday Djokovic was the winner 6-3, 7-6 (2) in a match full of big shots, comedy moments and even on court selfies!

Murray and Djokovic before their Madison Square Gardens match (source:www.worldtennisday.com/newyork)

LONDON

After an on court Cardio Tennis display session, the London showdown event kicked off at Earls Court with a match between 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash and Former world number one Ivan Lendl. Cash and Lendl have met eight times on the professional tour and Lendl was winning the head-to-head 5-3, but yesterday Cash outpaced his opponent to win the pro set 8-6.

Agassi overcame old rival Sampras in their match at Earls Court(source:www.worldtennisday.com/london)

The main feature featured former number one and eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi taking on his old adversary, seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras in the big clash of the American rivals. These two played each other thirty-four times during their professional careers, with Sampras winning their head-to-head battle 20-14 but yesterday an on form Agassi beat his old rival 6-3, 7-6(1).

Seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras back on court yesterday (source:www.worldtennisday.com/london)

HONG KONG

Australians Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur both won their World Tennis Day exhibition matches at the BNP Paribas Showdown event, held at the Hong Kong Veledrome yesterday

Stosur and Na participated in World Tennis Day (source:www.worldtennisday.com/hongkong)

Stosur maintained her unbeaten record against current Australian Open champions and world number two Li Na, winning their encounter 6-4, 6-3.

Hewitt powers past Berdych in their match (source:www.tennis.com.au)

Hewitt was next on court to face current world number five, Tomas Berdych and he won their battle 6-4,  7-5. Like the scenes in New York and London, the matches were played in a light-hearted and humorous spirit and Berdych even engaged in some live on-court tweeting during his match against Hewitt.