2006 Champions

Kate Povey (Ladies Doubles), Christine Thompson (Ladies Singles and Doubles), Jane Boyle (Mixed Doubles), Jeff Fine (Mens Doubles), Cedric de la Chaise (Mens Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles)

2006 Champions and Runners Up

Jeff Fine, Cedric de la Chaise, Jane Boyle, Ludmilla Stapleton, Kate Povey, Christine Thompson, Sultan and Rachael Gangji, Marie Woodthorpe, Mark Stapleton

Club Tournament Drinks Sponsorship!!!

SABMiller plc is one of the world’s largest brewers with brewing interests or distribution agreements in over 60 countries across five continents.  The group’s brands include premium international beers such as Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni, Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell, as well as an exceptional range of market-leading local brands.  Outside the USA, SABMiller plc is also one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products in the world.  Through their representative, Christine Thompson, SABMiller have generously agreed to sponsor the Club Tournament for the second year running by providing free beer for players and spectators.  We are all very grateful and wish them every success in the drinks market in the hot summer tennis season! Please help yourself to one beer for each day that you visit the club house during the tournament.

Tournament Reports and Gossip
Men's Singles Final

As in 2005, Mark Stapleton and Cedric de la Chaise contested the 2006 Men's Singles Final, umpired by Kevin Ryan.  This match was a really good one for the spectators with some excellent play on both sides.

The previous night Cedric was overheard to say to Mark, "Have another drink - I know it is late.  I hope you manage to get a good night's sleep and are not woken up by the children early in the morning.   My wife is away at the moment, of course, so I will be able to have a good lie-in."  Mark declined the drink.

Come the event, in the first set Mark served and volleyed well and streaked away to take a 5-1 lead.  But he could not then close it out on his serve, Cedric breaking him with some effort, but did manage to close it out on his serve second time for 6-3 by coming to the net at every opportunity and emulating Leighton Hewitt with a "C'mon" when winning crucial points.

In the second set Mark broke Cedric in the first game.  Cedric had a break-back point in the next, but Mark played a deep ball to Cedric's backhand to force an error and save it.  But Cedric continued to push and converted his second break-back point for 1-1.  Mark broke again, then held and broke Cedric once more to take the score to 4-1.  At this point we all thought it was all over.  But Cedric managed to break Mark again and hold to stay in touch at 4-3 to Mark.  In the next game Mark was 40-30 but a long serve was not called out causing the point to be replayed after Cedric had forced an error from Mark with a deep shot.  As a result Mark held and Cedric did the same for 5-4 to Mark.  In the next game Mark seemed to play too conservatively, lacking the killer instinct, and did not execute his volleys well.  Cedric seized the opportunity and broke Mark again to level at 5-5, eventually forcing a tie-break.  In the tie break there were so many mini breaks that it was clear that the winner would be the player who won both his service points.  After a disputed line call, in the end it was Cedric who managed to hold on to his serve to take the set.

The dynamics of the third set were somewhat different.  Mark was tired and less ambitious on his shots and Cedric broke him at will for 5-0.  A more aggressive game from Mark pulled it back to 5-1.  With Cedric serving for the championship Mark made errors on the first 3 points, but then rescued two of these before finally putting a ground stroke out to give Cedric a 3-6 7-6 6-1 victory.

There is no doubt that Mark had this final in the bag, but took his foot off the gas at the crucial time, at which point Cedric took full advantage.  In the past Mark was good at closing out a match from a winning position, but not his year.   Further, the effort of having to play a third set left him tired for the doubles final, while Cedric still looked fresh as a daisy. Match point video 10 MB

Ladies' Singles Final

Kate Povey and Christine Thompson contested the 2006 Ladies' Singles Final, umpired by Marjan Denis.  Christine had hurt her leg in the morning semi-final, so her aim was to keep proceedings as short as possible.  Meanwhile, unbeknown to all at West Heath, Kate is 4 months pregnant, so may have been reluctant to throw herself around too much.

In the first set Christine achieved her aim of keeping the rallies short, and her power and accuracy enabled her to take the set 6-3, though she struggled slightly with her movement.  In the second set Christine was dominant, enabling her to take the set 6-1 for a 6-3 6-1 victory.

If you work it out, then by the conclusion of the match there were 3 consecutive year's worth of ladies' singles champions on the court!!

Men's Doubles Final

The Men's Doubles Final consisted of Sultan Gangji & Mark Stapleton vs Jeff Fine & Cedric de la Chaise, umpired by John Knight.  On paper one would have backed Sultan and Mark to win, though Sultan's hip reduces his mobility and Mark's fitness is not as good as Cedric's, bearing in miund that the two of them had just played a three set Men's Singles Final.

In the first 3 games Cedric was th eonly one to hold, but Jeff was then broken to pull the score back to 3-1 to Cedric and Jeff, but that was enough to enable them to take the first set 6-4.

In the second set the score reached 3-3 whereupon Jeff had a very difficult hold, but managed to come through it.  Sultan was broken and Cedric was then able to serve out the match for a 6-4 6-3 victory.  As usual, Cedric played well, but the difference was probably Jeff playing above his normal level making it very difficult for Mark and Sultan to get any easy points.

Ladies' Doubles Final

The Ladies' Doubles Final consisted of Rachael Gangji & Marie Woodthorpe (the defending champions) vs Kate Povey & Christine Thompson, umpired by Moira Duncan.  

A very even first set reached 5-5 but then the champions broke to take it 7-5.

But then the challengers started to break their opponents, and the final result was a convincing 5-7 6-2 6-2 victory to Kate and Christine.

Mixed Doubles Final (Friday 29 July)

.  Malika is the up and coming lady player, while Regina is commonly held to have a sound game with good strokes (and I feel duty bound to report that the lady players at West heath keep telling me she has the best legs at West Heath too).  When quizzed afterwards on her game plan Malika said she had tried to hit good topspin groundstrokes to Regina's backhand as much as possible.  In the first set and a half this seems to have worked very well as Malika found herself 6-1 and 5-2(?) up, but something then went wrong and Regina took the second set on a tie break.  However, Malika's execution must have been better in the third set as she took it 6-2 and with it the match 6-1 6-7 6-2.  This was surprising as one would have anticipated a result for the more experienced player.  When asked about her incentive for such a victory Malika said she was very much looking forward to playing Marjan Denis in the next round.  Her mother was muttering something about Malika seeing her mum's face if she lost!!  I must check the score with the players again because I thought Malika said it was 2 sets, but the noticeboard recorded three.
- During the rain itself, Marie appeared at the club house sporting an excellent tea with home-made cheesecake and pear tart.  This cheered an increasing band of social and tournament players up no end.
- Given Malika's victory over Regina you would have thought that she and Radhika Sood would have stretched Philippa Glynn and Elena Valarche to breaking point.  However, doubles must be a different game because Elena and Philippa won 6-0 6-1 with Elena demonstrating her very competitive nature, taking her partner to task for dropping serve to allow the Soods to escape the double bagel.
- In the mixed Christine Thompson and Darren Kaye slipped past Vince Sudbery and Carol Jardine 6-2 6-3.
- Later, Christine Thompson and Darren Kaye challenged Cedric de la Chaise and Jane Boyle.  This turned out to be a very competitive match with some hard serving and no quarter asked for or given.  The result was a 6-4 6-4 win for the champions.
- Sultan had a bit of a let down today.  Having reached the final, a couple of nights ago, and rather the worse for a celebratory drink, he was telling anyone who would listen that he and his partner, Dereck, should have been the number one seeds in the Cumberland vets men's doubles tournament.  However, today he found that the other finalists thought otherwise, and Sultan and Dereck lost the final set, a vets tie-breaker, 10-7.  Better luck next time, Sultan.
- My wife, Moira Duncan also represented West Heath in a couple of the Cumberland Tournament finals, but lost the handicap singles 6-2 7-5.  She and her handicap ladies doubles partner Heather then had to play Baroness Billingham and her daughter, ex-satellite tournament player Caroline Jones (married to the Queen's art restorer), but keeping up with the Jones's also proved too difficult, regrettably.  Fortunately the Cumberland do runner-up medals.

Friday 21 July - no matches played tonight as- there was a Ladies I match at West Heath.
- I have now put a few video clips of various matches on the site.  Click on the links below the match report.  But beware - the clips are a few MB each so will take a while to download before they start playing.

Thursday 20 July - 4 matches played tonight.
- Mark Grzegorczyk beat Martin Martin Raybould 6-4 6-4.
- Ros Norkett beat Moira Duncan 1-6 6-4 6-4.  Moira said she should have done much better in the second set.
- Vivec and Malika Sood lost to Paul O'Flynn and Marjan Denis.  For all her innocent looks, this must have left Malika intent on revenge over Marjan in the singles!
- Jane Boyle and Ludmilla Stapleton beat Sally Tornow and Gill Green 6-4 6-1

Wednesday 19 July - 4 matches played tonight on the hottest ever July day (36.3 near Gatwick).
- Alex Raybould (who, at 15? looks twice as tall as I last remember him) played yet another number 5 seed, Simon Nelson.  The first set Simon narrowly scraped a 7-6 win, but Alex came into his own in the second and third sets to take the match 6-7 6-1 6-3.  Simon reckoned he played close to his best, though his volleys let him down occasionally, which means that Alex might now be a force to be reckoned with for all but the top 2 seeds.
- No pictures today as the battery on my digital camera went flat.
- Aruna Gunasekera and Charles Rubinstein took on the number 4 seeds, Mark Webb and Jani Petrou in the men's doubles.  Aruna kept very quiet about the fact that he had an upset stomach for a day or so, but Charles thinks this might have made all the difference.  Mark and Jani won 6-1 6-3.
- Still no videos today as my brother has not got the technical hitch sorted yet.
- Cedric de la Chaise and Jane Boyle, the defending mixed champions, took on Mark Webb and Gill Green.  Jane did well to play at all, having just completed a match in the Cumberland tournament, and, having a virus as well, was not feeling particularly energetic for the match.  But throughout, Jane and Cedric demonstrated superb placement and pace to ensure no problems.  Mark and Gill played well, and won some super points, but the superior strokes and guile of the champions, coupled with the overhitting of a number of Gill's renowned lobs with the wind behind her meant that the result was a 6-1 6-1 win to the champions.  One particular point was noteworthy in that one of the players on the adjoining court mis-hit.  The ball arced upwards and came down hitting Jane right on the top of the head.  It was such a funny coincidence, but we all had to apologise to Jane for laughing.  Quite understandably Jane was not impressed.
- There were reports that Sue Ehr was so worried because she left the tap on to fill the watering system tank at 23:00 last night, that she drove back at 04:30 to switch it off.  She does live close, but even so that is over and above the call of duty!
- Later, Kalyan Dasgupta and Darren Kaye played Alex and Martin Raybould in the men's doubles.  The Raybould's put on their normal ambidextrous display of serving left handed and hitting ground strokes right handed, but Kalyan and Darren were not to be fooled.  Kalyan, in particular seemed to be serving very well at times, and he and Darren took the first set 6-4.  The second set was a more one-sided affair, though the side on top switched at times!  The Rayboulds went 3-0 up with Kalyan losing his serve on a double fault just after Rachael Gangji had remarked to me how well he was serving!  The score then reached 5-2 at which point the Rayboulds seemed to misfire, and their opponents raised their game to take the second set to a tie break which they proceeded to take to win 6-4 7-6.  Darren and Kalyan now play the number 4 seeds Mark Webb and Jani Petrou.

Tuesday 18 July - one match played tonight on one must be one of the hottest days so far this tournament.  This was watched by a small but select crowd who were enjoying the tennis and evening sunshine while sipping wine or free beer.
- Mark Grzegorczyk, took on Kevin Ryan, one of the numerous number 5 seeds.  Kevin has these low slice strokes that are ideal on a low-bouncing, uneven, grass court.  Mark's strategy was to avoid too much exertion in the heat by coming to the net to hit a winning volley, sometimes by throwing himself at the ball Boris Becker style.  This and a few well hit passing shots seems to have given him a break for 5-3, but in the next game there was a slight wobble before he eventually held to take the first set.  In the second set Mark eventually got the break and found himself 5-4 up and serving for the match.  He had plenty of match points but seemed to lack the killer instinct in closing it out until eventually Kevin slipped and it was all over.
Match point video 5.6 MB
- The evening's proceedings ended with an attempt to water the courts in which it was discovered that the tank was empty so we all went home with Sue Ehr planning to return at 23:00 to finish off the watering once the tank had refilled.  Many thanks, Sue.

Monday 17 July - 3 matches played tonight, only one of which was won in straight sets.
- Marie Woodthorpe and Jani Petrou beat Sue Ehr and Huw Crompton 2-6 7-5 6-3.
- Paul O'Flynn beat David Cohen 5-7 6-1 6-2.
- Tim Allen, the number 4 seed, beat Brian Coffey 6-3 6-2.

Sunday 16 July - Monday night's continuation is appended below marked with *** (stars).  Another great afternoon to play and watch tennis and again there was an enthusiastic crowd of spectators with lot of matches to watch. 
- Martin Raybould beat Yusuf Samad when no-one was watching.  Since no score was recorded I have put it down as 6-0 6-0 in the hope that this provokes Yusuf to tell us what really happened.
- Alex Raybould beat Paul Rubie 6-2 6-3.  Paul did say that Alex was a lot taller than last year and made Paul run around a lot.  Paul suffered from the heat and got very tired.  I blame it on the evil cigarettes.
- Paul Miller beat Martin Schotness in a runaway 1st set 6-0 and a much closer 2nd set 7-5.
- Elena Valarche and Philippa Glynn had a super battle which left both players hot and tired - so much so they refused to attend the post-match news conference and have their pictures taken.  Elena won 6-4 6-4.
- Carol Jardine and Anne-Marie Williams had a good work-out against each other.  Carol's strategy was basically to get to the net where her long arms can reach almost anything.  Despite the baying crowd willing her to get to the net, Anne-Marie had no convincing answer and Carol took the match 6-3 6-1.  But the match was played in a very sporting fashion and both came off as friends.
Rally video 8 MB  
- Much more to come but I'll have to do it Monday evening as it is midnight and I have to go to bed now!!!
- (Continuation on Monday night of Sunday's commentary)
- Huw Crompton and Paul Miller took on the father and son partnership of Marc and Walter Reid.  It looked like the Reids very much got the worst of the first set, losing it 6-0.  Apparently they then changed their tactics and started lobbing Huw and Paul, who seemed to have difficulty coping with this stratagem, which worked marvellously as the Reids went on to win 6-3 6-3. Huw was afterwards quoted as saying, "It's tennis, Jim, but not as we know it." Of course all is fair in love, war and tennis, but the tactic may not work so well playing against competition with better overheads.
- I took a few video clips of matches on my digital camera on Sunday, and Kalyan thought it would be a good idea to put these on the internet.  However, our web site is controlled by my brother who has forgotten the password to enable me to run a separate site for the videos.  Otherwise my web tool will take about an hour to download the whole of the West heath web site.  Also he has to allocate me some more space.  We will try again later this week.
- Having been given a walkover against unknown opponents (whose names Sultan lost), Julia Abbott and Anne-Marie Williams took on the might of the defending champions, Rachael Gangji and Marie Woodthorpe.  Julia and Anne-Marie were always going to struggle against the superior consistency and shots of the champions, and so it proved.  Rachael is particularly deadly with anything in the air, so short lobs were swiftly despatched.  nevertheless, everyone enjoyed the match which the champions won 6-1 6-0.
- We all thought Sultan was tremendously persuasive when Stephanie and other children started washing up.  However, it emerged later that he had bribed them with a pound or two each!!
- Ros Norkett and Regina Dodge took on Marjan Denis and Carol Jardine, the number 4 seeds, on court 3.  A difficult first round match for the seeds turned into a very hard fought, close battle.  Carol and Marjan took a 5-0 lead, with most of those games going to deuce.  Winning the last point is always difficult and Ros & Regina duly won the next 3 games. Carol and Marjan stepped up and won the first set 6-3.  The second set started quite even but the fourth seeds eventually came through 6-2..
- The previous fraught match played by Kalyan Dasgupta and Ros Norkett on Saturday was later described by neutral bystanders as "six of one and half a dozen of the other, probably evening out in the end."  One might therefore expect their second round against Kevin Ryan and Elena Valarche to contain similar fireworks.  However, Kevin is always the perfect sporting gentleman, and Ros and Kalyan would have been hard put to find any fault with any of his line call decisions.  When it came to the tennis Kevin's difficult sliced serve and groundstrokes did a lot of damage, while Kalyan's serve was much more inconsistent, and together with Elena's tenacity, this seemed to be the crucial difference which enabled Kevin and Elena to emerge victorious 6-4 6-2.  
Rally video 3 MB  
Kalyan's serve 1st video 2.1 MB  
Kalyan's serve 2nd video 1 MB  

- Apologies for one or two mistakes in Saturday's results, now corrected. What happened was that I came back from the club on Saturday evening and immediately disrobed to have a quick shower.  In the meantime Moira grabbed all the tennis kit from both of us and stuffed it in the washing machine.  The paper with all the results on it was in the back pocket of my shorts, ended up rather soggy and had to be peeled apart, so I had some difficulty in interpreting it!

Saturday 15 July - A lovely afternoon to play and watch tennis and the club was well attended with a packed and interesting variety of matches.
- The match between Kalyan Dasgupta and Ros Norkett vs Marcus Burns and Susan Grossman turned out to be a very fraught affair in which no-one actually came to blows or even loud arguments.  Various comments were made to me afterwards by 3 of the 4 players which indicated that no-one saw eye to eye on certain line calls, particularly those when Kalyan served.  The match was mercifully brought to an end when Kalyan and Ros won 6-3 6-3.
- Jeff Fine and John Fox enjoyed a good game of tennis, but John reckons he should have been given one game for each of the ten years that he is older than Jeff.  But even on that basis Jeff would still have won.  Final score 6-0 6-1.
- Elena Valarche and Kevin Ryan eventually got the better of Paul Miller and Philippa Glynn 6-3 6-4.  From Kevin's later outspoken commentary on another match there was a suspicion that he had celebrated by being a little too liberal with the (free?) beer, but, what the heck, he only lives up the road, so why not!
- Sultan and Rachael Gangji despatched Moira Duncan and Paul Rubie.  Paul varied from brilliant to inconsistent and was thus probably the factor determining the outcome.  The match ended when Rachael spotted that Paul was standing too far over in the ad court to cover his backhand and proceeded to ace him down the middle for a 6-3 6-1 victory.
Rally video 4.6 MB  
- Mark and Ludmilla Stapleton proceeded on their seeded journey towards the final by beating Charles Rubinstein and Julia Abbott 6-1 6-1.
- Vince Sudbery and Huw Crompton must have had a ding-dong battle as the final score was 3-6 7-5 6-4 to Huw.
- There was yet another ding-dong battle between Simon Nelson and Charles Rubinstein which Simon won 4-6 7-5 6-1, though maybe he was on the beer too as it was recorded as 4-6 5-7 6-1 (think about this one if you don't see it immediately...).
- Here is a match report written by the participants.  I take no responsibility for it whatsoever!:-

"Me, Simon and Vince wrote this after our midday Saturday matches. Charles had cleared off in disgrace! no he went to a gig...
- Simon Nelson vs Charles Rubinstein and Huw Crompton vs Vince Sudbury
On grass courts one and two, a pair of men's singles unfolded as high noon shoot-outs between the men's' team regulars and the club's bus pass kings! Both matches lasted 2 hours 15 minutes and involved changing fortunes....
- Simon versus Charles
Simon began his 2006 tournament by serving like a scarecrow, and was thoroughly outfoxed by wily Charles 6-4. The usual antipodean swear words abounded and polluted the nearby courts. Charles led 3-1 in the second, and had points to go up 5-3, before Simon overcame the jitters to win 7-5. The kiwi fan club, clearly not amused, cleared off at this point. In the final set Simon's serve looking more human than crumpled agricultural mannequin, he blasted Charles away with oodles of free points to hammer home 6-1.
- Huw versus Vince
On the next court the generation game was equally dramatic. In the first set the high noon sun, and the contagious jitters and swear words from the next court, combined to hand it to Vince 6-3. Not content with Vince having worked out Huw's serve, Huw attacked Vince's own repeatedly to take the second set 7-5, despite Vince having chances to go 5-2 up. Vince's cunning angles and vast experience were an even match to some big groundstrokes and volleys from Huw. Both men held much better in the third set before Huw broke Vince, then held his own and won 6-4."

- Mark Stapleton started his campaign with a solid victory over Leo Silver, winning 6-1 6-1.
- Sally Tornow and Gill Green double-bagelled Susan Grossman and Viv Canter.
- Julia Abbott played Marjan Denis in the Ladies' singles.  Marjan started slowly, and Julia played some fine strokes throughout the match, but once Marjan got her eye in the quality of her passing shots began to tell and she finished a comfortable winner 6-2 6-0.

Friday 14 July - No matches played tonight.

Thursday 13 July - Changed a few LTA ratings on request from a lady whose rating was quoted as too low.
- Two men's singles matches have been played on the first day of the tournament.  Amazing!!
- Changed the Ladies Doubles question marks to make it clear that someone had entered but Sultan had lost the bit of paper with their names!!!
- Many thanks to Sue Ehr, plus Claire and Jen for watering the baselines tonight.

Wednesday 12 July - Sultan asked me to add a couple of pairs to the Mixed Doubles draw.  This should not affect your first round match but may affect the second round.

Tuesday 11 July - Draw now in Club house available and on the Web Site.  How's that for service!
- The draw has now been made. Please phone your opponents and schedule your matches

Sunday 25 June - England World Cup Match
- I spent a happy lunchtime getting the web site ready for this year's Club Tournament, knowing that the afternoon would be busy in the build-up to England vs Ecuador.

Singles:   Men's,   Ladies    Doubles:   Men's,   Ladies,   Mixed  

Order of Play,   Match Reports,   Biographies,   Gossip,   Rules  

	Men's Open Singles Holder : Cedric de la Chaise Sponsored by SABMiller plc
Round 1 Sun 16 July	Round 2 Sat 22	Round 3 Tues 25	Semi-finals Thurs 27	Final Sat 29	Winner
	Cedric de la Chaise (1)	Cedric de la Chaise 6-0 6-0	Cedric de la Chaise 6-1 7-5	Cedric de la Chaise 6-1 6-1	Cedric de la Chaise 3-6 7-6 6-1
Huw Crompton	Huw Crompton 3-6 7-5 6-4
Vince Sudbery
Martin Raybould	Martin Raybould 6-0 6-0?	Mark Grzegorczyk 6-4 6-4
Yusuf Samad
Mark Grzegorczyk	Mark Grzegorczyk 6-3 6-4
Kevin Ryan (5)
Tim Allan (4)	Tim Allan 6-3 6-2	Tim Allan 6-2 6-3	Tim Allan 6-4 5-7 6-2
Brian Coffey
Marc Reid	Dudley Liegh 6-2 6-2
Dudley Leigh
Alex Raybould	Alex Raybould 6-2 6-3	Alex Raybould 6-7 6-1 6-3
Paul Rubie
Charles Rubinstein	Simon Nelson 4-6 7-5 6-1
Simon Nelson (5)
Mark Webb (5)	Mark Webb 6-0 6-3	Mark Webb 6-1 6-0	Sultan Gangji 6-1 6-2	Mark Stapleton 6-4 6-3
Marcus Burns
David Stewart	Vivek Ram 6-1 7-5
Vivek Ram
Martin Schotness	Paul Miller 6-0 7-5	Sultan Gangji 6-1 6-3
Paul Miller
Walter Reid	Sultan Gangji 6-3 7-5
Sultan Gangji (3)
Jeff Fine (5)	Jeff Fine 6-0 6-1	Jeff Fine 6-1 6-2	Mark Stapleton 6-0 6-1
John Fox
David Cohen	Paul O'Flynn 5-7 6-1 6-2
Paul O'Flynn
Darren Kaye	Darren Kaye 6-4 6-1	Mark Stapleton 6-2 6-3
James Angus
Leo Silver	Mark Stapleton 6-1 6-1
Mark Stapleton (2)

 

Singles:   Men's,   Ladies    Doubles:   Men's,   Ladies,   Mixed  

Order of Play,   Match Reports,   Biographies,   Gossip,   Rules  

	Ladies' Open Singles Holder : Christine Thompson Sponsored by SABMiller plc
Round 1 Sun 16 July	Round 2 Sun 23 July	Semi-final Wed 26 July	Final Sat 29 July	Winner
	Kate Povey (1)	Kate Povey 7-5 6-2	Kate Povey 6-4 6-1	Christine Thompson 6-3 6-1
Philippa Glynn	Elena Valarche 6-4 6-4
Elena Valarche
Marjan Denis (4)	Marjan Denis 6-2 6-0	Malika Sood 7-5 4-6 6-4
Julia Abbot
Regina Dodge	Malika Sood 6-1 6-7 6-2
Malika Sood
Carol Jardine	Carol Jardine 6-3 6-1	Carol Jardine w/o	Christine Thompson 6-0 6-2
Anne-Marie Williams
Radhika Sood	Jane Boyle 6-1 6-0
Jane Boyle (3)
Ros Norkett	Ros Norkett 1-6 6-4 6-4	Christine Thompson 6-3 6-2
Moira Duncan
	Christine Thompson (2)

Singles:   Men's,   Ladies    Doubles:   Men's,   Ladies,   Mixed  

Order of Play,   Match Reports,   Biographies,   Gossip,   Rules  

	Men's Open Doubles Holders : Cedric de la Chaise & Jeff Fine Sponsored by SABMiller plc
Round 1 Tues 18 July	Round 2 Sun 23 July	Semi-final Wed 26 July	Final Sat 29 July	Winner
	Sultan Gangji Mark Stapleton (1)	Sultan Gangji Mark Stapleton 6-0 6-0	Sultan Gangji Mark Stapleton 6-1 6-1	Cedric de la Chaise & Jeff Fine 6-0 6-3
Huw Crompton Paul Miller	Marc and Walter Reid 0-6 6-3 6-2
Marc and Walter Reid
Mark Webb Jani Petrou (4)	Mark Webb Jani Petrou 6-1 6-3	Kalyan Dasgupta Darren Kaye 6-2 6-3
Aruna Gunasekera Charles Rubinstein
Kalyan Dasgupta Darren Kaye	Kalyan Dasgupta Darren Kaye 6-4 7-6
Alex Raybould Martin Raybould
	Brian Coffey Simon Nelson (3)	John Fox Dudley Leigh 6-1 6-4	Cedric de la Chaise Jeff Fine 6-0 6-3
John Fox Dudley Leigh	John Fox Dudley Leigh w/o
Martin Schotness James Angus
Vivek Ram Vivek Sood	Vivek Ram Vivek Sood w/o	Cedric de la Chaise Jeff Fine 6-1 6-2
Paul Rubie Vince Sudbery
	Cedric de la Chaise Jeff Fine (2)

Singles:   Men's,   Ladies    Doubles:   Men's,   Ladies,   Mixed  

Order of Play,   Match Reports,   Biographies,   Gossip,   Rules  

	Ladies' Open Doubles Holders : Christine Thompson & Kate Povey Sponsored by SABMiller plc
Round 1 Sun 16 July	Round 2 Sun 23 July	Semi-final Tue 25 July	Final Sat 29 July	Winner
	Rachael Gangji Marie Woodthorpe (1)	Rachael Gangji Marie Woodthorpe 6-1 6-0	Rachael Gangji Marie Woodthorpe 6-3 7-5	Christine Thompson & Kate Povey 5-7 6-2 6-2
Julia Abbot Anne-Marie Williams	Julia Abbot Anne-Marie Williams w/o
TBA 1 TBA 2 (when/if Sultan finds the bit of paper!)
Marjan Denis Carol Jardine (4)	Marjan Denis Carol Jardine 6-3 6-2	Marjan Denis Carol Jardine 3-6 7-6 6-0
Ros Norkett Regina Dodge
Philippa Glynn Elena Valarche	Philippa Glynn Elena Valarche 6-0 6-1
Mallika Sood Radhika Sood
Sally Tornow Gill Green	Sally Tornow Gill Green 6-0 6-0	Ludmilla Stapleton Jane Boyle 6-4 6-1	Christine Thompson Kate Povey 6-3 6-0
Susan Grossman Viv Canter
	Ludmilla Stapleton Jane Boyle (3)
	Moira Duncan Sue Ehr	Christine Thompson Kate Povey 6-4 6-2
	Christine Thompson Kate Povey (2)

Singles:   Men's,   Ladies    Doubles:   Men's,   Ladies,   Mixed  

Order of Play,   Match Reports,   Biographies,   Gossip,   Rules  

	Open Mixed Doubles Holders : Cedric de la Chaise & Jane Boyle Sponsored by SABMiller plc
Round 1 Fri 14 July	Round 2 Wed 19 July	Round 3 Sun 23 July	Semi-final Tue 25 July	Final Thu 27 July	Winner
	Cedric de la Chaise Jane Boyle (1)	Cedric de la Chaise Jane Boyle 6-1 6-1	Cedric de la Chaise Jane Boyle 6-4 6-4	Cedric de la Chaise Jane Boyle 6-4 1-6 6-1	Cedric de la Chaise & Jane Boyle 6-4 6-2
	Mark Webb Gillian Green
	Vince Sudbery Carol Jardine	Christine Thompson Darren Kaye 6-2 6-3
	Christine Thompson Darren Kaye
	Marie Woodthorpe Jani Petrou (4)	Marie Woodthorpe Jani Petrou 2-6 7-5 6-3	Marie Woodthorpe Jani Petrou 6-3 6-2
	Huw Crompton Sue Ehr
	Vivek & Mallika Sood	Marjan Denis Paul O'Flynn 6-2 6-1
	Marjan Denis Paul O'Flynn (5)
Kevin Ryan Elena Valarche (5)	Kevin Ryan Elena Valarche 6-3 6-4	Kevin Ryan Elena Valarche 6-4 6-3	Sultan & Rachael Gangji 6-0 6-3	Mark & Ludmilla Stapleton 6-3 6-4
Paul Miller Philippa Glynn
Kalyan Dasgupta Ros Norkett	Kalyan Dasgupta Ros Norkett 6-3 6-3
Marcus Burns Susan Grossman
	Paul Rubie Moira Duncan	Sultan & Rachael Gangji 6-3 6-1
	Sultan & Rachael Gangji (3)
	Brian Coffey Kate Povey	Simon Nelson Sally Tornow 6-4 6-4	Mark & Ludmilla Stapleton 6-3 6-3
	Simon Nelson Sally Tornow
	Charles Rubinstein Julia Abbot	Mark & Ludmilla Stapleton 6-1 6-1
	Mark & Ludmilla Stapleton (2)

Player Biographies

Cedric de la Chaise

Strong right-hander who was singles and doubles champion last year.  We look forward to more ding-dong singles battles between him and Mark Stapleton this year and over the years to come.

Mark Stapleton

Strong right-hander.  Mark is married to Ludmilla whom he partners in the mixed doubles.  Mark's historical domination of the singles title could be a thing of the past after the past after Cedric de la Chaise wrested away his crown.  Mark will have to improve his level of speed and fitness to compete at the top level this year.

Sultan Gangji

While Sultan's eye is as good as ever, his mobility on court seems to be much reduced and a hip operation looks on the cards at some stage.

Kevin Ryan

In the past Kevin has been a good doubles player and steady under pressure although his singles record does not match his doubles ranking.

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Kate Povey

Kate was the 2005 title holder, a dark horse beating Penny Northway in the final.  Kate joined West Heath in the 2005 season and has been playing in the ladies' first team.  Kate has a good all-round game.

Marjan Denis

Marjan was the 2004 title holder, beating Christine Thompson in the final.  She currently plays her league tennis for Brampton.  

Christine Thompson

Christine has been playing for the West Heath first ladies league team during this season. She is a good player with a thumping serve and is also the leading light in arranging BBQ's and loud music, not to mention free lager!!!, to bring the club to life.

Jane Boyle

Jane holds more West Heath ladies singles titles than any other West Heath member, past or present (1974, 1976 - 1981, 2000 and 2001), a record of which she is justifiably proud.    However, last year Jane only reached the semi-finals.

Rachael Gangji

Nowadays Rachael is an infrequent visitor to the club nowadays, but puts in an appearance in the tournament.

The LTA Official View

The LTA have an inter-club rating scheme for players who register. You get an initial rating, then ratings are updated regularly based on your tournament results. The ratings of our club finalists are on the LTA web site (click on the underlined link above) and can be years out of date (mine is). The actual absolute ratings have now changed though the relative ratings are still valid.  Here are the rated players from the latter stages of the club tournament.  The lower the rating the better the player:-

6.1 Mark Stapleton (For some reason he is Essex, not Middlesex!)
6.2 Jane Boyle, Kate Povey, Sultan Gangji
7.2 Marjan Denis, Rachael Gangji, Carol Jardine, Ros Norkett, Cedric de la Chaise (!!), (and yours truly)

Singles:   Men's,   Ladies    Doubles:   Men's,   Ladies,   Mixed  

Order of Play,   Match Reports,   Biographies,   Gossip,   Rules  

Rules

1. The tournament officially begins on Thursday 13 July and the Finals will be played on Saturday 29 July. If rain prevents play the finals will be played on Sunday 30 July. The draw will be in the club house and on the web site on Wednesday 12 July to allow competitors to arrange matches during the week.  First round matches must be played before or on Saturday 15 July.
   
   
2. A chart of available court times is drawn up and competitors are asked to book the courts they intend to play on.
   
   
3. The player(s) whose name(s) appear at the top of the fixture are responsible for challenging their opponent(s).
   
   
4. The Tournament is to be played on all the courts, apart from the Semi-Finals which will be played on grass, unless the weather does not permit.  In the event of disagreement between the opponents on the surface to be chosen, this will be decided by the spin of a racquet.
   
   
5. New balls will be available for the Finals.
   
   
6. All rounds are to be played within the scheduled times indicated at the top of each draw sheet to enable smooth flow.  Extensions will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances and with permission of the joint referees.
   
   
7. All matches will be best of 3 sets.  The tie-break will operate at 6-6 in ALL sets.  The rules of the tie-break are displayed.
   
   
8. All matches must be continuous and appeal for bad light will be considered at 9 p.m.
   
   
9. Please give your entry fee to Sultan Gangji, Jane Boyle or Marjan Denis.  The fee is £3 for one event or £5 for two or more.
   
   
10. Competitors are expected to volunteer to be lines persons on Finals Day.
    
    
11. The Joint Referees are Sultan Gangji and Jane Boyle, whose decisions will remain final.
    
    

Sultan Gangji and Jane Boyle

Singles:   Men's,   Ladies    Doubles:   Men's,   Ladies,   Mixed  

Order of Play,   Match Reports,   Biographies,   Gossip,   Rules  

2005 Champions

Cedric de la Chaise (left) won Singles, Doubles and Mixed.

Philip Reid won the Boys event and also beat Vivek Sood in the adult men's singles event.  Vivek asked for a rematch but Philip won that too.

Singles:   Men's,   Ladies    Doubles:   Men's,   Ladies,   Mixed  

Order of Play,   Match Reports,   Biographies,   Gossip,   Rules