| |
Order of Play
Due to circumstances beyond the control of the West Heath LTC the schedule of
matches for an individual court may have to be changed at short notice. We apologise for any
inconvenience to spectators that this may cause, and we advise spectators to occupy the
seats with a good view over all courts first.
| Order of Play |
| Grass
1 |
Grass
2 |
| Saturday 26 July - Finals Day |
|
13:00 Mens Doubles Semi
Sultan Gangji & Mark Stapleton
vs
Jeff Fine & Simon Nelson
6-4 to complete
|
14:00 Ladies Singles Final
Umpire : Marjan Denis
Jane Boyle
vs
Malika Sood
|
14:00 Mens Singles Final
Umpire : Kevin Ryan (by popular demand)
Mark Stapleton
vs
Cedric de la Chaise
|
To be followed by
Ladies
Doubles Final
Umpire : Moira Duncan
Ros Norkett & Jen Ehr
vs
Jane Boyle & Ludmilla Stapleton
|
To be followed by
Mens Doubles Final
Umpire John Knight
Cedric de la Chaise& Joris Fletcher
vs
Mark Stapleton & Sultan Gangji
|
World Famous
Finals Day Tea (17:00) |
|
To be followed by
Mixed Doubles Final
Marjan Denis & Paul OFlynn
vs
Jane Boyle & Cedric de la Chaise
|
Trophy Presentation
followed by Social Tennis
and
Evening Barbecue (20:00)
(Cypriot BBQ with professional rotisserie spits)
|
Singles: Men's,
Ladies Doubles:
Men's, Ladies,
Mixed
Order of Play, Match
Reports, Biographies,
Gossip, Rules
Tournament Reports and Gossip
Finals Day - Saturday 25 July - A capacity crowd watched the mens and ladies singles and doubles
finals.
In the end the day belonged to Cedric de la Chaise as he took singles and two doubles titles. Jane Boyle also
improved on her considerable haul of doubles and singles titles by adding two more doubles titles, and Ludmilla Stapleton made her first appearance in
the ladies doubles final, adding that title to the two mixed doubles titles she already has to her name. Mallika Sood proved that she is getting stronger each year as ladies singles champion.
Elena Valarche organised the usual sumptuous tea. Jani and his friends and family provided an excellent barbecue which fed the forty-odd members attending in the
evening. Sultan's speach was lucid, clear, short and to the point (for once), and one might even have
suspected that he was still relatively sober when delivering it. Sultan thanked all concerned and also thanked Paul Rubie
for over a decade on the West Heath committee as Paul has now decided to stand down from the committee.
For the Stapleton family this year was important because it was the first year that Ludmilla has brought home a trophy
without Mark doing the same. However, Mark enjoyed himself at the Final's Day barbecue, and had to
be gently stabilised and steered out of the club house at the end of the evening by Milly.
As for me, this is the tenth year in which I have been reporting on the club tournament, despite Sultan's
AGM speech containing a reference and thanks to me for doing the web site for the past 5 years!!. I hope
this has increased the
interest, involvement and buzz for the tournament that was already there when I first mooted the idea of a club web site in 1999. This year the
number of web site hits in June and July were down, although the interest in the new members page
seems consistently high at a few hundred hits per month, which is encouraging. The web site statistics themselves
can be invoked directly from the column on the left and are the fourth most popular page viewed (after the home page,
new members page and tournament draw page).
The technology has already moved on, of course, and Charles Rubinstein has proved this by
incorporating a number of his photos from the tournament onto
his external Facebook page
(click here for Charles' tournament photos without having to join Facebook). He has also invited various
members to become his Facebook friends. The more coverage of the tournament the merrier!
And lastly our thanks go to SAB Miller for sponsoring the West Heath 2009 Tournament with supplies of
Peroni and other bottled beers from their tempting range..
Men's Singles Final
Mark Stapleton (2) versus Cedric de la Chaise (1)
Umpire : Kevin Ryan
In last year's final Cedric started slowly, but it was Mark's turn
to be slow off the mark this year. Mark served first and
lost 5 straight games to make a first set begel look a distinct
possibility. However, with Cedric serving in the 6th game
Mark got his game together and put sufficient pressure on Cedric
to force a break, which spurred him on win his own
service game to leave Cedric serving again for the set at 5-2
up. This time Cedric raised his game and closed out the set, but
the impetus was still with Mark.
In the second set Mark was playing at a much higher level than the first set
but Cedric was yet to respond to this. Games
went with serve until Cedric served 1-2 down.
Mark forced a break point, and looked as if he was going to hit a winner
down the line for the break, but a gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and
caused him to hit wide. Mark overcame this slight disappointment to
finally break Cedric, held his own service and broke Cedric again for a 5-1
lead. At this point it looked like Mark had the set in the bag, but when
serving for the set Mark made some errors and allowed Cedric in with a
break. Cedric took full advantage of this shift of momentum by holding
his serve and breaking Mark again, leaving himself serving at 4-5 to level the
set. This game got really interesting at 30 all. Cedric went for a
cross-court winner but the ball ended up in the net. On the break point Mark
had an opportunity to hit a winner but gave the ball back to Cedric who hit a winner for
deuce. Mark again forced a break point, on which he came in and hit a volley winner
to take the set 6-4 and force a final set.
In the final set Mark served first. Cedric applied pressure and
forced a few errors and weak returns from Mark, of which Cedric took full advantage to
break Mark. Games then proceded with serve until Cedric was serving for the match
at 5-4. Having left matters a bit late Mark now came into his own. Mark took the
first point, but Cedric replied with a winner in the corner for 15 all. Mark's good placement then forced a high short ball from Cedric which Mark put away, but Cedric replied by
winning the next two points to get to match point, but put the ball long for
deuce. The game went on for quite a while with Mark getting more break points and
Cedric a few more championship points. The match record will not clear this
up as Kevin ran out of paper to score this particular game, but Mark
finally managed to break to level the match at 5 all in the final set.
It's not quite clear just what happened next. Perhaps Mark let up a little
because of the effort of the previous game, but certainly Cedric managed to get the break
once more and was serving for the match again. This time he made no mistake taking the match
6-2 4-6 7-5.
Thanks go to the umpire Kevin Ryan and linesmen Jeff Fine, Jimmy Lee and Michael Goldman. Vince Sudbery commented that this was the most exciting mens final he could remember, and the
concensus was that this had been a titanic struggle well worthy of the mens final. The question
is still what does Mark have to do to beat Cedric in this series of annual finals where
such fine margins give Cedric victory every time? One thing which would
have helped Mark in the first set is to be more agressive when he had the
upper hand in a point, for instance going for a volley winner near
the sideline instead of a deep volley to the centre of the court
to try to force a mistake from Cedric which Cedric typically handled very well, often
hitting an unreachable winner in response. Another aspect was that Cedric was
able to read Mark's serve, and this was worth a few points along the
way.
This was a fine display by both players.
Ladies' Singles Final
Jane Boyle versus Mallika Sood (1)
Umpire : Marjan Denis
Mallika Sood had already won the Ladies' Single in 2007 and 2008, and, as an improving and maturing 14-year old, it was unlikely that anyone would be able to able to stay with her for long enough to deprive her of her third singles title. Jane Boyle is no slouch either, having won the Ladies Singles title no less than 9 times, the first in 1974 and most recently in 2001. Jane did her best to stem the onslaught of winners, but Mallika is mobile, accurate , thinking and not sufficiently prone to error that she was going to be denied, and Jane could not find a consistent strategy to prevent Mallika first setting up and then executing winners, though she managed to force a series of deuces in the first game of the second set before that game went the way of all the others.
The inevitable result was a 6-0 6-0 victory to Mallika.
Men's Doubles Final
Sultan Gangji & Mark Stapleton versus Cedric de la Chaise & Joris Fletcher (1)
Umpire : John Knight
A single early break of serve to Sultan and Mark was sufficient to give them the first set, though
Mark struggled a little on his serve to close it out before he finally succeeded in doing so.
In the second set mark was Mroken in the second game, while
Sultan managed to hold serve, but Mark was broken again allowing Cedric and Joris to take the set 6-1 to level the match.
In the ensuing Champions tie-break Cedric and Joris leapt into an early 5-1 lead. Sultan and Mark pulled it back a little to 6-3, but then got only one more pint as Cedric and Joris took the tie-break 10-4.
Ladies' Doubles Final
Jane Boyle & Ludmilla Stapleton (3) versus Ros Norkett & Jen Ehr(4)
Umpire : Moira Dunca
This final started evenly as the score reached 3 all, but at this point Milly and Jane's better consistency
told, as they each held serve and broke Ros and Jan to win the first set 6-3.
At the beginning of the second set Ros and Jen put on a determined effort and were rewarded with a 3-1 lead, but
could not sustain this, and Milly and Jane took the match with a string of 5 games in a row to also win the second set
6-3.
Jen ran for everything, but, with the exception of the early part of the second set, Jen and Ros did not hit form
at the sme time, whilst Jane and Milly were resolute in approaching the net and volleying consistently. A few more
well placed lobs might well have upset Jane and Milly's rhythm, but there were too few attempted to test them.
Mixed Doubles Final
Jane Boyle & Cedric de la Chaise (3) versus Marjan Denis & Paul O'Flynn (4)
This was the dream timeable for Paul and Marjan as Cedric and Jane had each been involved in their respective
gender's both singles and doubles finals, and hence were somewhat tired from their previous exertions.
This match was made noteable by the fact than Marjan and Paul broke Cedric's serve 3 times. Cedric
started the match by serving and volleying, and in particular Marjan was able to hit low returns at his feet which he probably
was not expecting and could not cope with, and this was instrumental in helping to break his serve. This
unexpected turn of events forced a rethink from Jane and Cedric, and later in the match Cedric adopted a policy of
staying back on his serve, at least for the initial return.
With this exception, the match was generally one of
pace, placement,
consistency and mobility at the net from Cedric, with Jane contributing a variety of serves a staunch defence, and
awkward slice shots, all of which tended to
force errors from Paul and Marjan, who were not consistent enough to get sufficient games to deflect Cedric and
Jane. from their intent. The first set went 6-3 to Cedric and Jane, and the second set went 6-1 to them
also. Since Cedric was broken 3 times, Marjan and Paul held serve only once throughout the
match.
Friday 24 July - The weather was nearly kind enough, but not quite, and the large puddles on the shale
courts at 19:00 said it all. The unfinished mens doubles semi-final and the mixed doubles final have
been rescheduled for finals day.
Thursday 23 July - The mens semi-finals were played tonight on the shale, but a
brief but very intense downpour then
put paid to any possibility of playing the Mixed Doubles Final tonight as there were extensive
puddles. The weather tomorrow is forecast to be worse, but Sultan is hoping to play the
Mixed Doubles final at 19:00. Spectators welcome (unless the club is already under water).
In the top half semi-final Cedric de la Chaise let Sultan Gangji have two games in the first set before
depriving him of any more for the duration of match to win 6-2 6-0.
In the bottom half semi-final Joris Fletcher was not expecting to play on shale and
has beaten Mark Stapleton on grass before, so his chances were severely restricted by the
enforced change of surface. Joris is not as consistent as Mark, but has the shots to win points off
him. On shale the scope for winners is reduced but the penalty for inconsistency is increased. Nevertheless,
Joris started well and played consistently to take the first two games, but could not maintain this as
Mark raised his level. Joris got only one more game as Mark won 6-3 6-0.
The really interesting question is what Mark Stapleton intends to do differently in
the final against Cedric de la Chaise. He has come pretty close to winning once or twice but since Mark
defeated Cedric in a tight semi-final 7-6 6-4 in 2003, Cedric has always had the edge on the really important
points. Mark has always had the capability of breaking Cedric's serve but Mark's
problem in the final has always been to hold serve himself against the strong pressure which Cedric can exert when
returning, and Mark's volleys have not always been good enough against Cedric who is highly
mobile and can hit winners from any part of the court if he can get to the ball. It will surely be another
interesting match.
The mixed doubles final competitors got as far as knoocking up before the deluge, but then that was
that. The same fate befell the completion of the outstanding mens doubles semi-final. Keep your
fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Wednesday 22 July - There was a packed program this evening as the enforced rain delays meant
there was some catching up to do. An excellent meal was provided by Michelle Ganz and Penny North,
and the manacing pose adopted by Michelle to all intruders in her kitchen ensured that too many cooks did not
spoil the broth.
In the last mens singles quarter final Simon Nelson played Mark Stapleton. Mark took the
first set easily 6-2, but Simon came into his own in the second set and at 6 games all could easily have forced a third
set. However, Mark won the tie break for a 6-2 7-6 victory.
The unfinished match between Elan Valarche and Ros Norkett was resumed with Elena winning
6-3 and Ros 1-0 up in the second set. Elena played very well on the resumption, and Ros is
typically a slow starter, with Elena taking full advantage, and polishing off the second set with 6 games in a row
to win 6-3 6-1.
Elena Valarche then took on Mallika Sood. Mallika served well, with few double faults, and Elena is not
used to this sort of pace. She hit some good shots to move Mallika wide, but failed to take advantage by
hitting the next ball to the other tramline, instead tending to hit it down the middle which tended to give Mallika an
open court, and Mallika won the match 6-1 6-1 for a place in the final.
Charles Rubinstein has become a keen facebook addict, and has been keen to capture as many action
shots as possible to put on his facebook page. Now most of us would use a digital camera for this, but
Charles has other ideas and maintains that his old film SLR provides much better pictures than his 7 megapixel
digital camera, so that is what he uses. Apparently the photo processors will provide you with a digital version
of the photos on request, so you do not have to go to all the trouble of scanning them in from the actual
photos. Charles can be seen here in action during the match between Elena and Mallika. Photos is
courtesy of Jen Ehr, taken on a Canon Ixus 750 digital camera.
However, as well as a film SLR camera, Charles also has an iPhone, which is one of the reasons why Margaux
vValarche thinks that he is cool. Oh but the picture is slightly tarnished by Charles' liking for classical music.
Jane Boyle and Jen Ehr played the other semi-final very early in the evening. The match was
a patchwork of hot and cold. The wind also blew, tending to favour Jane's low slice rather than
the topspin of Jen. Jen started fast for a 4-1 lead, but as the wind got up became a little tentative and
Jane won 5 games in a row to take the first set 6-4. Jen broke early in the second set too, for a 2-0 lead,
but again could not keep up the pressure, particularly when Jane's serve started to go in more consistently and
she was able to generate more pace, and Jen got only one more game for a 6-4 6-3 victory to Jane.
Sue Latimer and Sultan Gangji took on Marjan Denis and Paul O'Flynn in the top half
semi-final, which turned into an exciting game.. It was won by Marjan and Paul, who said he was
"very happy that he had messed up Sue's game plan." Sue described herself as
very disappointed.
In the bottom half mixed doubles Cedric de la Chaise and Jane Boyle, the third seeds, took on
Mark and Ludmilla Stapleton the number 2 seeds. In contrast to last year's match
Jane played very well having to hit only one second serve after her match with Jen,and Cedric more
than held his own. Cedric and Jane upset the seedings with a 6-3 6-2 victory.
In the top half of the mens doubles Bill Thom and David Glover beat Jimmy Lee and Jani
Petrou 7-6 6-3. However, Dave suffered a stomach injury during the final game, and despite much
discussion, neither pair thought it worthwhile to try to squeeze the next round match in, so Cedric de la
Chaise and Joris Flecther were granted a walkover into the final!
In the bottom half semi-final Jeff Fine and Simon Nelson played Mark Stapleton
and Sultan Gangji towards the end of the evening. Games were split evenly until 4 all, at which point
the lower-ranked seeds lost a little concentration letting Mark and Sultan take the set 6-4. At this point
although there was still some light left, it looked unlikely that the match would finish before it became pitch black
so they decided to call it a day, have some dinner, and resume another evening at the start of the second set.
The resumption of the unfinished match between Vandana and Anahita Talware and Ros Norkett
and Jen Ehr started with Ros and Jen winning 6-0 3-1. They took the last 3 games to win 6-0 6-1
to book a place in the final.
Tuesday 21 July - Despite the inclement weather, a few matches took place on shale followed
by tasty Moussakas from Liz Goodfellow and Julia Abbott and tempting lemon pie from Jane Boyle.
In the mens doubles, Jeff Fine and Simon Nelson, the number 4 seeds were challenged by
Ed Nightingale and his uncle Richard. There were some unconventional shots from Richard in the
tight first set, which was played on a damp shale court which was compared by one of the competitors with playing
on corrugated iron in the rain where the big hole in the net kept everyone concentrating to make sure the ball
had not gone through. Once the set reach 5 all, Jeff and Simon took the next two games to win it 7-5, and
then went on to win the second set 6-2.
To be completed .......
In the gathering gloom, Vandana and Anahita Talwar started their match with Ros Norkett and Jen
Ehr. The first team pairing walked the first set 6-0, but the darkness won in the end as the
match had to be abandoned with the score at 3-1 to Ros and Jen in the second set.
Monday 20 July - A crowd exceeding 30 gathered to watch the evening's entertainment and
partake of Vince and Rosie's excellent spicy roast lamb.
Today was Vince and Rosie's 8th Wedding Anniversary, and Sultan said a few words to describe the
initially slow pace of their romance as they had actually known each other for 33 years before getting
married. There were replies from Vince and Rose and
a celebratory cheer from everyone else.
Mark Stapleton took on Kevin Ryan on number one court in a fascinating encounter.. Kevin held his own until
3 all in the first set with a selection of sliced foreehands and backhands which were highly effective on
grass and had Mark make quite a few errors, but Kevin found it difficult to deny Mark on
serve. Mark's better mobility was also telling, and Mark took the first set 6-3. Due
to pressure from the baying crowd, on completion of the previous match on court 2 they were then asked
to move over to entertain the centre court crowd which, by now was well warmed up and lubricated. In the
second set the crowd naturally cheered on Kevin every time he won a point. Had there been one or two more of
them the score in the second set might have been more even , but there were not quite enough of
them to stop Mark. Mark took all the applause and shouting in good spirit, knowing that the West
Heath crowd
was there to be entertained and always routs for the underdog, and he proceded to win the second set 6-1.
Simon Button and Paul Rubie had to face the might of Dave Glover's serve and the
experience, consistency and native cunning of Bill Thom. As the match was staged on
centre court, the crowd were also keen participants. Simon and Paul were playing the role of the
underdogs against some very heavy serving and ground strokes from Dave, from whom they elicited
some occasional errors, but neither were really used to the pace of the shots which Dave can
produce, and neither were playing as well as they can, making a number of unforced errors when
going for their shots. The result was a 6-0 6-2 victory to Bill and Dave.
Dave is always keen to do more stringing if anyone has a broken string......
In the ladies doubles, the top of the draw has been re-arranged to maximise the entertainment for the
ever-keen West Heath spectators, and Mallika Sood is now able to defend her
doubles title, this time with Sue Ehr, reversing the walkover which was previously granted to the Talwars.
In a slightly surprising score line, Jane Boyle and Cedric de la Chaise beat Jen Ehr and Dave
Glover 6-2 6-1.
In the final entertainment of the evening on centre court, Sue Ehr and Huw Crompton challenged
Mark and Ludmilla Stapleton. Again, it was apparent to the crowd who the underdogs were
and they cheered them on vociferously. On Milly's serve, Mark creeping over to intercept
was punished occasionally, but
not as much as it should have been. Huw and Sue played some good tennis, but could not match the
consistency of Mark and Milly. They could have scored more points over Milly's head had
they gone for their lobs
more, but rarely took this option. Mark's serve, as usual, was pretty difficult to
beat. Though generallly uncertain of the score, the crowd felt they had been excellently entertained, and the
result was a 6-1 6-2 victory for Mark and Milly.
Sunday 19 July - The were light showers late afternoon, but most
competitors play their scheduled matches today. There was plenty of interesting golf when
the spectators had had their fill of scintillating tennis. We are now reaching the interesting
part of the tournament where the top seeds start to take the tournament very seriously and are
taking no prisoners, so there are more zeroes appearing in the score lines, particularly in the
men's doubles.
Funnily enough, most of the scores today were paired except two - the same score
cropped up in two matches! How odd is that?
Elana Valarche and Marjan Denis on paper are potentially a strong partnership, with
Marjan supplying the heavy groundstrokes which force short returns for Elena to volley
away. They beat Anne Marie Williams and Michelle Gantz 6-3 6-1. Let us see
how they get on against the veteran partnership of Jane Boyle and Ludmilla Stapleton in the semis.
Joris Fletcher played two singles matches and won them both, firstly against Simon
Button, 6-1 6-1 (the only score not also recorded today by someone else), then
against Dan Braverman, 6-3 6-1 (same score as above).
Simon Nelson appeared to have a real battle with James Angus. Simon
took the first set 7-5, but James returned the compliment to take the second set 7-5 and level the
match. The final set went to Simon 6-3. This was the only other score not also recorded by
someone else.
Sultan Gangji beat Charles Rubinstein 6-0 6-1.
Mallika Sood beat Liz Goodfellow 6-0 6-1 (same score as above).
Cedric de la Chaise and Joris Fletcher beat Daniel and Brian Coffey 6-0 6-0.
Sultand Gangji and Mark Stapleton beat Dan l'Anson and Kalyan Dasgupta 6-0 6-0
(same score as above).
In one of the closer matches today, Richard and Ed Nightingale beat Charles
Rubinstein and Vince Sudbery in a champions tie break for a 6-2 4-6 [10-3] victory.
Assuming that the notes I was given are accurate, then the exact same score cropped up again
when Sultan Gangji teamed up with a new partner, Sue Latimer standing in for the
injured Christine Thompson. They beat Moira Duncan and Darren Lee 6-2 4-6 and a
disappointing (according to Moira) [10-3].
Saturday 18 July - Although it kept threatening to rain, conditions were good for most of
the day and the occasional very light shower did not take the grass courts out of action.
The big news of the day is the announcement of the withdrawal of Christine Thompson from the tournament without having hit
a ball. She has some problem with the sole of her foot, but that
leaves matters wide open in her half of the draw in all three events. Christine was the Ladies Singles champion
in 2006, the Ladies Doubles champion in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and the Mixed Doubles champion in 2007 and 2008, so
this leaves a big gap in three draws. In addition, for the past few years, Christine has been instrumental in
obtaining sponsorship for the tournament from SAB Miller, for which the club would like to propose a hearty vote of
thanks.
Cedric de la Chaise beat Paul Miller 6-1 6-0.
Paul O'Flynn reported that he had had a very enjoyable match
against Jimmy Lee, although the grass court was a little wet and slippery. Jimmy proved
to be the stronger player and won 6-2 6-1.
Huw Crompton and Michael Goldman are playing together in the doubles, but in this match
they were drawn against each other in the singles. In this match it was the serve and 'do
or die' attitude of Huw versus a more steady but less pacy game from Michael. In the
first set it looked like Michael's consistency triumphed, although he appeared to be hitting
the ball back to Huw at times, and Michael took this set 6-3. This seemed to serve as a wake-up
call to Huw whose first serve started to work a bit better, and he put more pressure on Michael, which resulted
in Huw winning the second set 6-1 to square the match. It is not clear exactly what changed in the
third, but Michael made fewer mistakes and tried to place the ball better, and Huw could not maintain the
increased pace and accuracy of the second set, resulting in the third set and match to Michael 6-1.
As well as being drawn against his doubles partner in the singles, Huw Crompton was also drawn against him in the
mixed, the line up being Huw Crompton and Sue Ehr vs Michaels Goldman and Michelle
Ganz. My money was on a tight match, but Huw and Sue roared into a commanding lead in the
first set and proceded to take it 6-0. The second set was a much tighter affair, reaching 4 all, but Michael
was then broken leaving Huw to serve it out. However, Huw was not able to do this, so the score
reached 5 all, but on subsequently breaking Michelle,
Sue was able to hold her own server to take the set and victory 7-5. I have seen Michelle play better
than this, and the second set could easily have gone the other way, but it looked like Huw and Sue were
setting the pace and winning the points as long as they did not make errors.
Julia Abbott and Vince Sudbery took on the well established pairing of Paul O'Flynn and
Marjan Denis. Vince was playing much better than in the past, and Julia hit some good shots, but
it looked like both sets got to 3-3 before getting broken and Paul and Marjan won the match 6-3 6-3.
Ros Norkett and Jimmy Lee beat Bill Thom and Liz Goodfellow 6-3 6-2.
The winners of the two preceding mixed matches then went on to play the round 3 fixture.
Ros Norkett and Jimmy Lee versus Paul O'Flynn and
Marjan Denis. The first two sets were split, Marjan and Paul taking the first 6-3 and
Ros and Jimmy taking the second 6-2, leaving the result in the hands of the champions tie-break
Although this was fairly even at first, Paul and Marjan applied some pressure in the middle and secured a
mini-break, but this was recovered to make the score 6-6, but then Paul and Marjan went on to win 10-7.
The most fascinating, if predictable match was Moira Duncan and Darren Lee
versus Margaux Valarche (10 years old) and Charles Rubinstein. The match
was delayed by 90 minutes as Margaux first had to play two junior finals at Finchley tennis
club. In the first of these she beat her sister Carine (who at 12 is two years older) in
a 2-hour marathon match to become junior girls champion. In the second she became the
junior mixed champion. Thus, with a well warmed up partner, Charles had to sort out the strategy for both
him and Margaux. As it turned out, Margaux played much more consistently than Charles, generally
make very few unforced errors and hitting a number of winners by placement, including some off
balls which the opponents were not expecting to come back as they were at a very awkward
angle. She is not yet able to hit the ball very hard, relying instead on placement. There was the odd very low ball and "West Heath" bounce that
eluded her. and she was not always being able to cope with the pace of Darren's serve, and lacked
the power of shot to keep it away from him at the net. Charles for his part attempted to keep the ball in play, but was not sufficiently aggressive on
easy balls and made a number of unforced errors. The opponents gratefully received these free
points, and were not completely error-free themselves. The first set went 6-1 to Moira and
Darren, although the set was more even than the score would indicate.
In the second set Margaux lobbed Darren rather more, but he is rather tall and she could not entirely
avoid setting the ball up for the smash. She also started to serve to Moira's backhand, but
as she is still very short, her lack of pace on the serve meant Moira had enough time to run around these
and take them on the forehand, which is usually pretty lethal. The net result was another 6-1 to Moira
and Darren, who generally seemed relieved to have come through what they regarded as a tricky
encounter.
Three competitive tournament matches in one day did not stop Margaux from wanting to
play "Fleeced", the Wallace and Gromit sheep rustling game at midnight after Elena's
dinner to celebrate passing the exam for her professional qualification at the fourth
attempt, to which we were invited as a result of my helping her pass the Critical Reading paper
with some coaching in statistics and exam technique.
Thursday 16 July - Despite the thunder later on in the evening there were a few matches played
tonight.
Jeff Fine and Simon Nelson beat Maciek Janowski
and Jonathan Bell. Anyone know the score?
Walter and Philip Reid took on Jimmy Lee and Jani Petrou. The Reids did their
best to find a weakness, which included reverting to a challenging set of lobs at times, but Jimmy and
Jani were too strong for them and won 6-1 6-3.
Simon Button and Paul Rubie were drawn in the preliminary round of the men's doubles against
Nikhil Sood and Javid Jahanshahi. It looks as if the first set was pretty tight and Simon and
Paul took it 6-4, but either they stepped up the pace or their opponents could not maintain their level and Simon and
Paul also went on the win the second set 6-0.
Apparently the rumour that Sanjiv Talwar had swine 'flu is true after
all. Charles Rubinstein reported on Wednesday night that it had been confirmed by a
lab test. We wish Sanjiv a speedy recovery, if he isn't already better by now.
Charles commented that he was doing everything possible to avoid catching swine 'flu. However,
there is a lot to be said for a strategy of catching 'flu during the warm summer months, when it kills very
few and most of those already in poor health, whereas if you wait until winter to get it then 'flu tends to be
rather more lethal.
The fixture between Michelle Ganz and Michael Goldman and Sally Tornow and Dan Braverman
looked like a close fixture on paper. Dan is a strong player, but Michelle's tennis has
improved dramatically recently. On paper Sally and Dan should have nicked
it. In the event the first set went to 5-5 before Michael and Michelle broke
and took it 7-5. The second set was also very close, Michael and Michelle taking
it 6-4. The next round match against Sue Ehr and Huw Crompton is going to be very interesting
indeed, as it is likely that both sides think they can win it.
Wednesday 15 July - There were 3 matches attempted tonight.
Paul O'Flynn defeated Javid Jahan 6-1 6-2.
Charles Rubinstein vs Dan I'Anson must have started on grass, but were forced to the shale
by a swift downpour. After turning up late, Charles won the competitive first set 6-3. The
switch to shale produced a second set in which Charles was playing with extreme
consistency, a modicum of pace, and his usual wily placement in order to put Dan under pressure, except
in the 6 game where he was playing like a lemon squeezed by pressure from Dan. This resulted
in a 6-1 result for Charles.
Elena Valarche vs Ros Norkett started on grass, but the downpour forced them to abandon the match
to be completed another day (possibly Sunday 17:00). In the first set Ros was serving well
enough, but Elena gets everything back somehow, and, though the returns were not tricky,
somehow Ros kept missing her volley to hand the initiative to Elena. For her part Elena
served low and hard, making it difficult for Ros to employ pace on the return. The result had a lot to
do with Ros's unforced error count and was that Elena won the first set 6-3. Ros was 1-0 up
in the second set when the rain arrived and after that the grass court was too slippery.
Tuesday 14 July - With home and away ladies matches, only one tournament game was played
today.
Perhaps against the odds on past form (Gabriel having won two doubles events in 1998 with Sultan Gangji and Janet O'Connor), Paul Miller beat Gabriel Solomon 6-3 7-6. The
match had to switch surfaces as the ladies' first team turned up to throw them off the grass.
Charles Rubinstein and Margaux Valarche were given a walkover in the mixed as Sanjiv Talwar is still
not feeling well.
Monday 13 July - For a weekday there were an amazing number of matches - seven in total.
In the men's singles, Cedric de la Chaise had a comfortable victory over Richard Nightingale 6-0 6-1.
Nikhil Sood found it too difficult to cope with the spin of Kevin Ryan, which probably he never
has to face in the junior coaching squads. Kevin beat Nikhil 6-1 6-3.
Jimmy Lee is one of a number of new members who have joined this season from Templars to play
on grass and participate in the vibrant West Heath social scene. He beat Masato Okonogi 6-1 6-1.
In the ladies doubles, two second team players, Sue Latimer and Sally Tornow took on two first team
players, Ros Norkett and Jen Ehr. At the beginning of the match Ros and Jen were
making a lot of mistakes, and Sally and Sue took full advantage to gain a 4-0 lead (though this was reported as 4-1 by an opponent). However, after that
the first team players got their act together big time, which resulted in no more games being won by the
second team players, for an eventual 6-4 6-0 victory to Ros and Jen.
Liz Goodfellow and Bill Thom took on Malika Sood and her younger
brother Nikhil Sood in an afternoon first round mixed doubles match. Bill and Liz started
slower than the youngsters and found themselves 1-3 down, but used their native cunning and years of
experience to win the next 5 games and take the first set 6-1. They then went on to win the first two games of
the second set, at which point the brother and sister team broke back and levelled at 2 all, then 3 all. The next
break of serve went with the more experience pair and Bill served at 5-3 for the match. The Soods seemed to be in
with a chance of levelling again as Bill served from 0-40 down but he hit some good serves to the corners, finishing
the match with an ace out wide. One bystander commented that the juniors did not really know what to make of
the style and manner of play of the aging veterans. For once age and experience managed to
find a wily way to win against these fine young players who have time and on their side and still plenty of scope for
improvement in their teens. Mallika is already club champion of course.....
Elena Valarche and Richard Adinolfi have been playing together at Templars and decided to team up for
the West Heath tournament. They were drawn against the number 3 seeds Cedric de la Chaise and
Jane Boyle, who, by now can be regarded as an experienced partnership. Cedric and Jane justified
their ranking with a 6-2 6-3 victory.
The most interesting match of the day was Jen Ehr drawn against the number 3 seed Marjan
Denis. Marjan probably has a game to suit Jen as both hit the ball hard and like pace. Marjan
appears to have gained the upper hand easily in the first set, taking it 6-1, and this momentum carried her to a
5-2 lead in the second set. But Jen has huge experience of playing in high-level chess competitions
to draw on, and was not prepared to surrender the match without a fight. A bystander reported that
Jen fought hard to raise her game, stave off imminent defeat and take the second set to a tie break. Jen
then had the momentum and proceded to take the tie break 7-4 to level the match. In the final set Jen
played very competitive tennis and Marjan could not rise to the level of play required to deny her, resulting in Jen
taking the final set 6-0, for a 1-6, 7-6, 6-0 victory.
Sunday 12 July - Although there were a few very short showers today, the forecast was for sunny
periods and there was no significant threat to grass-court play. The action in the mixed doubles
today was limited to recording the conceding of a couple of walkovers, including one from yesterday, so the
eager spectators were limited to watching matches from other events. Fortunately these supplied
some exciting tennis.
Simon Nelson beat David Cohen 6-2 7-5, but the action took place some time before Richard
Nightingale's rather tasty tea, so I was too late to witness it.
Mark Stapleton defeated Kalyan Dasgupta 6-1 6-2.
The match between Paul Rubie and James Angus could quite well have gone either
way and was totally dependent on how Paul played. It generally consisted of Paul playing brilliant points or making
unforced errors, while James
just did his best to get the ball back anywhere in court that he could manage. Fortunately for James, Paul's
ratio of good to bad points was somewhat less than one. A good example would be for Paul to serve wide on
the backhand to James, come in behind the serve, and put away a fantastic volley 6 inches from the opposite
tramline, closely followed by a double fault or a good serve and hitting the approach shot into the
ground. Certainly if he could keep the winners and lose the losers (so to speak) he would be
pretty difficult to beat. Better footwork would certainly help here. In the end James took it 6-2 6-3.
There is no truth in the rumour that Sanjiv Talwar has swine 'flu, though he was certainly feeling sufficiently indisposed to
offer Flavio Taffoni a walkover.
Liz Goodfellow and Julia Abbott were probably hoping for a quiet match on court 3, though Brian was
intent on poisoning as many as possible of the weeds taking over the court fence and border with Westfield College (with
their permission, of course). As might be expected (particularly from the new slimmer-line Julia), Liz is not
as mobile as Julia, but also as expected, almost every ball
Liz did get to got returned back in court, often in places where Julia had no hope of reaching it. The result was
a 6-2 6-2 win to Liz.
Anne Marie Williams was persuaded to enter the singles, and was then drawn against Elena
Valarche. Anne Marie, who plays almost no singles, is highly mobile and retrieved quite a number of
balls placed cross court by the inevitably advancing
Elena, but in the first set found it difficult to hit it anywhere but back to her opponent. This
typically allowed Elena to hit a number of volley winners, though she missed the occasional one. In the second set
Anne Marie served much better (though more wrist snap would have come in handy add to the pace to stop Elena's
advance) and made a determined attempt to change her tactics by attempting the pass, but
could not quite get the consistency and accuracy to make it count. Had there been a third set it
could well have been more even, but in the event Elena won 6-0 6-1.
The most interesting matches today were undoubtedly in the men's doubles. In the first, Paul
Miller and James Angus would have been favourites to beat father and son duo Walter and Philip
Reid. Indeed Paul and James took the first set 6-3. However, Philip is turning into a good player, and
his father Walter is deceptive - although he does not appear to have wonderful strokes, he is pretty consistent and
knows how to place the ball in all the tricky places. The Reid's obviously got their act together in the second set
because they reversed the previous set score to take it 6-3. All then depended on the champion's tie
break, and the Reids acquitted themselves well here and ended up winning it 10-6.
In the other men's doubles Kenichiro Yoshidaand Masato Okonogi looked like they had the
better strokes and more tactical nous than Vince Sudbery and Charles Rubinstein, and in the first set
Kenichiro and Masato proved the stronger as they were able to counter most of the shots that Charles and Vince
came up with to win it 6-3. However, Vince has been having some coaching and it did pay dividends in a greater
consistency, which he and Charles put to good use to raise their level in the second set, reversing the score to take
it 6-3. As in the other men's doubles match, all thus rested on the champions tie break. Charles
and Vince raced away to an 8-4 lead and the spectators assumed they had it in the bag. However, Kenichiro and
Masato were not having this and levelled at 9 all, at which point it looked like anyone's. But at this
point Vince and Charles kept their cool and played a couple of points to win the match 11-9, perhaps against the odds.
Apparently Carine and Margaux Valarche (sisters aged a total of 22 between them), were not playing at their best
against mother and daughter duo of Vandana and Anahita Talwar who easily took the first
set 6-1. In the second the Valarche sisters raised their game somewhat, but to no avail, with the Talwar taking it
6-4.
Saturday 11 July - The weather looked distinctly dodgy, but a few matches were played before some
persistent rain summarily ended the tennis.
Jeff Fine, the 6th seed, appears to have justified his ranking with a 6-1 6-1 victory over Eduoard Biron.
Jane Boyle and Ludmilla Stapleton, the third seeds, took on the challengers Julia Abbott and Moira
Duncan. The match presumably started in dry weather, but by the time it finished there was persistent rain, but the hardy
competitors carried on to the end. The third seeds broke
Moira's serve in the first game, but Milly was soon broken to restore equality. However Milly and Jane broke later on to give
them the first set 6-4. In the second set Jane and Milly got the break early on, but Julia and Moira did well to get it back
to reach 4 all. Moira was then broken to give the seeds the victory 6-4 6-4.
Sanjiv and Dhananjay Talwar took on Michael Goldman and Huw Crompton in the grey drizzle. Dhananjay served
well and has the makings of a good player and as the younger was probably also the stronger in the father and
son partnership. The first set was fairly easy for Michael and Huw, but the Talwars put up stronger
resistance in the second set to acquit themselves respectably, but losing it 6-3.
It might be anticipated that a match between Dan Braverman and Ed Nightingale would be close,
and it looked like this was the case, with Dan winning the first set 6-4. The
second set was even closer and reached 6 all. However, at this point Dan won the tie break 7-4. It would be
interesting to know if Ed has been able to play much tennis since snapping his Achilles tendon last year when playing
with Alexa Tilley in the mixed against Christine Thompson and Sultan
Gangji.
We are all glad Ed has made a full recovery.
Apparently he may not be competing in the tournament next year as he and his wife are off to Beijing.
Simon Button beat Dhananjay Talwar6-3 6-1 in the singles, but had better watch out in subsequent years as
Dhananjay is going to improve as he gets older.
Ros Norkett beat Sally Tornow 6-3 6-1.
During the knock-up Sally was spinning every ball, and Ros was wondering how she would cope with this. Ros
must have found a way because she had built up a 4-0 lead, but got distracted by the next-door match (Jane
Boyle and Ludmilla Stapleton vs Julia Abbott and Moira
Duncan), at which point Sally seized her chance and became a lot more competitive, winning the next few games. But Ros finally managed to hold her concentration to win another couple of games to take the set. A very similar lapse of conentration, for the same reasons, occurred when Ros was 4-0 up in the second set, but having lost her serve this time she realized the danger and settled down to take it 6-1. Ros is probably the stronger play, but Sally is competitive though she rarely plays singles.
Huw Crompton and Sue Ehr beat Vandana and Dhananjay Talwar 6-1 6-0. Sue adn Huw have played together for a while now, so the result was to be expected, but a good time was had by all.
Friday 10 July - Margaux Valarche is 10, and has been desparate to play up as an adult at West Heath
for a couple of years. She is as determined as her mother, has a very good tennis eye, is strong for her age and is pretty
consistent in hitting the ball. But being only 10 has a number of disadvantages, not the least of which is that you are
still very short, so you are much easier to lob, and it is more difficult to hit the serve hard as gravity has
more work to do to bring the serve into court from such a low starting position - so it needs more time.
Her sister Carine is 12. The two are of a similar standard, although Margaux claims she has the edge.
Rumour has it that there were extensive discussion between committee members as to
whether a 10-year-old was too young to enter the adult section of the tournament draw. In the last
two American-style tournaments, Margaux scored 1 game below average, and just
above average respectively, so there is little case for exclusion from the adult section of the
tournament due to lack of tennis ability. It was also suggested the ladies' second team captain
should consider Margaux and Carine for league matches when she is desperate because the usual suspects are out gallivanting elsewhere, and that she may well end up begging them to play for her next season as they improve.
Fortunately the committee decision was that they should be allowed to play, so today featured the following matches:-
Carine Valarche played against Jane Boyle, from the first team. Jane easily took the first set 6-1, but
the second set was 6-4, which was a respectable score for Carine against the 9 times club champion.
Margaux Valarche was drawn against Jen Ehr, who is also nominally a junior, but
is another first team player. Jen won the first set 6-3, but seems to have worked out a
better strategy for the second set, which she won 6-0.
Thursday 9 July - The first match got the West Heath Club Tournament truly underway when
Vince Sudbery, fresh from his winter coaching, took on Sultan Gangji. The coaching paid huge
dividends as he constantly charged the net playing like a 30 year old!!! He served 3 aces in the
match and played some wonderful ground strokes, but this was not enough to keep the eagle-eyed Sultan at bay, despite
his dodgy hip, and Sultan won 6-3 6-1.
Tuesday 7 July - The 2009 West Heath Club Tournament draw is now on this web page. The tournament will start on Thursday 9 July and first
round matches must be completed by Saturday 11 or Sunday 12 July. If you are in the
men's singles and are not seeded then check carefully
to see if you have to play a Round 0 (preliminary round) match before the first weekend of
the tournament. Joint referees are Sultan Gangji and
Marjan Denis, so please
let them know if you have any questions or issues.
The cost is £3 for one event, and £5 for 2 or 3 events. Please pay Moira Duncan or
Marjan Denis. As always, semi finals
will be played during our Gourmet Dinners week, from Monday 20 to Thursday 23
July. Sign up for the Gourmet Dinners on the sheets in the
clubhouse. Finals day is Saturday 25 July.
The tournament rules are in the clubhouse but can also be found here. The
aim is to publish results on the web site each night along with the occasional match report!
|
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 (0) 1
(Sat 11)
Sun 12 July |
Round 2
Sat 18 July |
Round 3
Tues
21 July |
Semi-finals
Thurs 23 |
Final
Sat 25
|
Winner |
| Cedric de la Chaise (1) |
Cedric de la Chaise
6-0 6-1 |
Cedric de la Chaise
6-1 6-0 |
Cedric de la Chaise
6-2 6-1
|
Cedric de la Chaise
6-2 6-0 |
Cedric de la Chaise
6-2 4-6 7-5
|
|
Richard Nightingale |
| Paul Miller |
Paul Miller
6-3 7-67-1 |
| Gabriel Solomon |
| Paul O'Flynn |
Paul O'Flynn
6-1 6-2
|
Jimmy Lee
6-2 6-1
|
Javid
Jahan beat
Daniel Coffey 6-4 6-4 |
| Masato Okonogi |
Jimmy Lee
6-1 6-1
|
| Jimmy Lee (8) |
| Sultan Gangji (4) |
Sultan Gangji
6-3 6-1 |
Sultan Gangji
6-0 6-1
|
Sultan Gangji
6-4 6-4
|
|
Vince Sudbery |
| Charles Rubinstein |
Charles Rubinstein
6-3 6-1
|
| Dan I'Anson |
| Huw Crompton |
Michael Goldman
6-3 1-6 6-1
|
Jeff Fine
6-2 7-5 |
| Michael Goldman |
| Edward Biron |
Jeff Fine
6-1 6-1
|
| Jeff Fine (6) |
| Ed Nightingale (5) |
Dan Braverman
6-4 7-67-4
|
Dan Braverman
w/o
|
Joris Fletcher
6-3 6-1
|
Mark Stapleton
6-3 6-0
|
| Dan Braverman |
Sanjiv Talwar bt
Peter
Davies w/o |
Flavio Taffoni
w/o
|
| Flavio Taffoni |
| Simon Button |
Simon Button
6-3 6-1
|
Joris Fletcher
6-1 6-1
|
| Dhananjay Talwar |
| Jonathan Bell |
Joris Fletcher
6-1 6-0 |
|
Joris Fletcher (3) |
| Simon Nelson (7) |
Simon Nelson
6-2 7-5
|
Simon Nelson
5-7 7-5 6-3
|
Mark Stapleton
6-2 7-6
|
| David Cohen |
| James Angus |
James Angus
6-2 6-3
|
| Paul Rubie |
| Kevin Ryan |
Kevin Ryan
6-1 6-3
|
Mark Stapleton
6-3 6-1
|
| Nikhil Sood |
| Kalyan Dasgupta |
Mark Stapleton
6-1 6-2 |
| Mark Stapleton (2) |
Singles: Men's,
Ladies Doubles: Men's, Ladies,
Mixed
Order of Play, Match
Reports, Biographies, Gossip, Rules
 |
Ladies' Open Singles
Holder : Malika Sood
Sponsored by SABMiller plc
|
|
Round 1
Sat 11 July
/ Sun 12 July |
Round 2
Sun19 July
|
Semi-final
Wed 22 July
|
Final
Sat 25 July
|
Winner |
|
Mallika Sood (1) |
Mallika Sood
6-0 6-1
|
Mallika Sood
6-1 6-1
|
Mallika Sood
6-0 6-0
|
|
Julia Abbott
|
Liz Goodfellow
6-2 6-2
|
Liz Goodfellow
|
Elena Valarche
(4)
|
Elena Valarche
6-0 6-1 |
Elena Valarche
6-3 6-1
|
Anne Marie Williams
|
Sally Tornow
|
Ros Norkett
6-3 6-1 |
Ros Norkett
|
Jen Ehr
|
Jen Ehr
6-3 6-0
|
Jen Ehr
1-6 7-67-4 6-0
|
Jane Boyle
6-4 6-3 |
Margaux Valarche
|
|
Marjan Denis
(3)
|
|
Jane Boyle
|
Jane Boyle
6-1 6-4
|
Jane Boyle
w/o |
Carine Valarche
|
|
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 & Joris Fletcher
Note the change to a champions tie break
instead of a 3rd
set
Sponsored by SABMiller plc
|
|
Round 1
Sun 12 July
/ Weds 15 July |
Round 2
Sun 19 July
|
Semi-final
Wed 22 July
|
Final
Sat 25 July |
Winner |
| |
Cedric de la Chaise
Joris Fletcher
(1) |
Cedric de la Chaise
Joris Fletcher
6-0 6-0 |
Cedric de la Chaise
Joris Fletcher
w/o
|
Cedric de la Chaise
Joris Fletcher
4-6 6-1 [10-4] |
| |
Paul O'Flynn
Martin Schotness |
Daniel Coffey
Brian Coffey
?-? ?-?
|
Daniel Coffey
Brian Coffey |
Jimmy Lee
Jani Petrou
(3) |
Jimmy Lee
Jani Petrou
6-1 6-3
|
Bill Thom
David Glover
7-6 6-3
|
Walter
& Philip Reid
beat James
Angus &
Paul Miller
3-6 6-3 [10-6]
|
Simon
Button & Paul Rubie beat
Nikhil Sood &
Javid Jahanshahi
6-4 6-0
|
Bill Thom
David Glover
6-0 6-2 |
Bill Thom
David Glover |
Ed Nightingale
Richard Nightingale |
Ed Nightingale
Richard Nightingale
6-2 4-6 [10-3]
|
Jeff Fine
Simon Nelson
7-5 6-2
|
Sultan Gangji
Mark Stapleton
6-4 6-4
|
Charles Rubinstein
Vince Sudbery
beat
Kenichiro Yoshida
Masato Okonogi
3-6 6-3 [11-9] |
Jonathan Bell
Maciek Janowski |
Jeff Fine
Simon Nelson
6-3 6-1
|
Jeff Fine
Simon Nelson
(4) |
Michael Goldman
Huw Crompton
beat
Dhananjay
Talwar
Sanjiv Talwar
6-1 6-3
|
Dan I'Anson
Kalyan Dasgupta
w/o |
Sultan Gangji
Mark Stapleton
6-0 6-0
|
Dan I'Anson
Kalyan Dasgupta |
|
Sultan Gangji
Mark Stapleton
(2)
|
|
Singles: Men's,
Ladies Doubles:
Men's, Ladies,
Mixed
Order of Play, Match
Reports, Biographies,
Gossip, Rules
|
|
Ladies' Open Doubles
Holders : Jane Boyle &
Ludmilla Stapleton
Note the change to a champions tie break
instead of a 3rd set
Sponsored by SABMiller plc
|
|
Sunday 12 July |
Round 1
Sun 19 July
|
Semi-final
Tue 21 July
|
Final
Sat 25 July
|
Winner |
|
|
Mallika Sood
Sue Ehr
(1)
|
Vandana &
Anahita Talwar
w/o
|
Ros Norkett
Jen Ehr
6-0 6-1
| Jane Boyle
Ludmilla Stapleton
6-3 6-3
|
Vandana Talwar
Anahita Talwar
|
Vandana &
Anahita Talwar
6-1 6-4
|
Margaux Valarche
Carine Valarche
|
|
|
Ros Norkett
Jen Ehr
(4)
|
Ros Norkett
Jen Ehr
6-4 6-0
|
Sally Tornow
Sue Latimer
|
Julia Abbott
Moira Duncan
|
Jane Boyle
Ludmilla Stapleton
6-4 6-4
|
Jane Boyle
Ludmilla Stapleton
7-5 7-67-4
|
Jane Boyle
Ludmilla Stapleton
(3)
|
Anne Marie Williams
Michelle Gantz
|
Elena Valarche
Marjan Denis
6-3 6-1
|
Elena Valarche
Marjan Denis
(2)
|
Singles: Men's,
Ladies Doubles:
Men's, Ladies,
Mixed
Order of Play, Match
Reports, Biographies,
Gossip, Rules
|
|
Open Mixed Doubles
Holders :
Jane Boyle & Cedric de la Chaise
Note the change to a champions tie break
instead of a 3rd set
Sponsored by SABMiller plc
|
|
Round 1
Sun 12 July |
Round 2
Tues 14 July
|
Round 3
Sun 19 July
|
Semi-final
Tue 21 July
|
Final
Thu 23 July
|
Winner |
| |
|
Sue Latimer
Sultan Gangji
(1)
|
Sue Latimer
Sultan Gangji
6-2 4-6 [10-3]
|
Marjan Denis
Paul O'Flynn
6-3 6-4
|
Cedric de la Chaise
Jane Boyle
6-3 6-1
|
| |
|
| |
Charles Rubinstein
Margaux Valarche |
Charles Rubinstein
Margaux Valarche
w/o |
Darren Lee
Moira Duncan
6-1 6-1 |
Sanjiv Talwar
Anahita Talwar |
|
Darren Lee
Moira Duncan |
|
Marjan Denis
Paul O'Flynn
(4) | Marjan Denis
Paul O'Flynn
6-3 6-3 |
Marjan Denis
Paul O'Flynn
6-3 2-6 [10-8]
|
Julia Abbott
Vince Sudbery |
Julia Abbott
Vince Sudbery
w/o
|
Susan Grossman
Filippo Finelli |
Mallika Sood
Nikhil Sood |
Bill Thom
Liz Goodfellow
6-3 6-3 |
Ros Norkett
Jimmy Lee
6-3 6-2 |
Bill Thom
Liz Goodfellow |
|
Ros Norkett
Jimmy Lee
|
|
|
David Glover
Jen Ehr
|
Daivd Glover
Jen Ehr
w/o
| Cedric de la Chaise
Jane Boyle
6-2 6-1
|
Cedric de la Chaise
Jane Boyle
6-3 6-2
|
Flavio Taffoni
Anne Marie Williams |
Eduardo Biron
Carine Valarche
w/o |
Eduardo Biron
Carine Valarche |
|
Elena Valarche
Richard Adinolfi
|
Cedric de la Chaise
Jane Boyle
6-2 6-3 |
|
|
Cedric de la Chaise
Jane Boyle
(3) |
Sally Tornow
Dan Braverman
|
Michelle Ganz
Michael Goldman
7-5 6-4
|
Sue Ehr
Huw Crompton
6-0 7-5 | Ludmilla Stapleton
Mark Stapleton
6-1 6-2
|
Michelle Ganz
Michael Goldman
|
Vandana Talwar
Dhaninjay Talwar
|
Sue Ehr
Huw Crompton
6-1 6-0
|
Sue Ehr
Huw Crompton
|
| |
|
Ludmilla Stapleton
Mark Stapleton (2)
|
| |
|
|
Singles: Men's,
Ladies Doubles:
Men's, Ladies,
Mixed
Order of Play, Match
Reports, Biographies,
Gossip, Rules
Player
Biographies
Cedric de la Chaise
Strong right-hander who has
now been singles champion for four years in a row, but lost his men's and mixed doubles crowns last year. We look forward
to another singles battles between him and Mark Stapleton
this year and over the years to come However, it must be said that Cedric's winning margin over Mark last year was a convincing 6-1 6-2, which compares very favourably (for Cedric that is) with 2004 and 2006 when Mark took him to 3 sets before conceding.
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. I am afraid that an appearance
in the semis is the most that Sultan can hope for this year.
Mark Stapleton
Strong
right-hander. Mark is married to Ludmilla
whom he partners in the mixed doubles. Mark will have his work cut out to defeat Cedric de la Chaise in the men's singles final this year unless he has markedly improved his level of speed and
fitness. We shall see but my money is on Cedric once again!
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, in 2005 Jane only
reached the semi-finals and had to withdraw in 2006. She is partnering Cedric de la Chaise in the mixed again this year which may yield better results than last yea''s semi-final appearance.
Marjan Denis
Marjan was the 2004 title holder,
beating Christine Thompson in the final. In 2006 she lost in 6-4 in the third against
Malika Sood, and last year lost in straight sets to Christine Thompson, so the record says that a semi-final appearance is the best that Marjan can ope for again this year. She
currently plays her league tennis for Brampton (who put on some good quizzes in which Marjan has appeared in the winning team at least twice that I know of).
Malika Sood
Malika is in her early teens and improving dramatically year by year. She made her first
appearance in 2005 when she got knocked out in the first round. In 2006
she beat Marjan Denis in the quarters in a titanic struggle, winning 6-4 in the third. She was then
knocked out in the semis by Kate Povey. Last year she took the ladies singles title from Christine Thompson in a tense match of two straight sets, both of which were decided by tie breaks 9-7 and 8-6, despite my prediction which said that Christine would just have the edge! This year the writing is on the wall and I think only injury or a newcomer can stop Malika.
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'#39;s and loud music, not to mention free lager!!!, to bring the club
to life. If she contests the ladies singles final with Malika Sood then I can see only one outcome given Malika's age, rate of improvement and defeat of Christine last year.
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
2007 Finals Day
Singles: Men's, Ladies Doubles:
Men's, Ladies,
Mixed
Order of Play, Match
Reports, Biographies,
Gossip, Rules
Tournament Rules
- The tournament officially begins on
Thursday 9 July and the Finals will be played on Saturday 25 July.
If rain prevents play the finals will be played on Sunday 26 July.
The draw will be in the club house and on the web site on
Tuesday 7 July to allow competitors to arrange matches during
the week. First round matches must be played before or
on Saturday 11 July.
- A chart of available court times is
drawn up and competitors are asked to book the courts they intend
to play on.
- The player(s) whose name(s) appear at
the top of the fixture is(are) responsible for challenging their
opponent(s).
- The Tournament is to be played on all
the courts, apart from the Semi-Finals and 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.
- New balls will be available for the
Finals.
- All rounds are to be played within the
scheduled times indicated at the top of each draw sheet to allow
smooth progress. Extensions will only be permitted in
exceptional circumstances and with permission from the joint
referees.
- All singles matches will be best of 3
tie-break sets. The doubles events will have tie breaks in the first two sets but the 3rd set will be a match
tie-break (i.e. Champions tie-break where the team reaching 10 points with a
margin of 2 will win). The rules of the tie-break are displayed in the club house.
- All matches must be continuous and
appeal for bad light will be considered after 9 p.m.
- Please give your entry fee to Moira Duncan or Marjan Denis. The fee is £3 for
one event or £5 for two or more.
- Competitors are expected to volunteer to
be lines persons on Finals Day.
- The Mixed Doubles final will be scheduled for Thursday 23 July.
- The Joint Referees are Sultan Gangji and
Marjan Denis, whose decisions will remain final.
Sultan Gangji and Marjan Denis
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