Aldershot &
District Lawn Tennis Association
TOURNAMENTS
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FINALS’ DAY REPORT
14th
September 2008
The annual event of the
The first matches of the day were the Men’s and Ladies’ Singles.
Gary Stanford and Steven Bozas (Aldershot Tennis Club) were
happy to practise together for half an hour before the match, but once the
match started it was down to business.
The battle of the giants and a repeat of the last four years’
men’s finals found them testing each other out in the first few games and
honours were even after 6 games with no breaks of serve. The seventh game however was not a good one
for Stanford. He dropped his service to
love, which included 2 double faults, and the one break with some fine serving
in the last game earned Bozas the set.
Stanford seem undaunted though and the second set started in a
similar vein to the first, but this time it was the fifth game of the set that
was Stanford’s downfall. Bozas was then
tested in his next service game as Stanford was determined to break back. There were 4 deuces before Bozas claimed the
game, and from there went on to take the Championship 6-4 6-3.
The Ladies’ Singles was between last
year’s champion Betty Maitland (Elstead) and Alex Bliss (Ash). Bliss had also been a finalist in previous
years, but Maitland proved too strong for her on the day. Maitland served well with a high percentage
of 1st serves going into court, and although there were some close
games and plenty of deuces, it was Maitland’s consistency that saw her through
to retain her title in this two set match, 6-1 6-1.
The Men’s Doubles final was a repeat
of the last two years with Bozas and Stanford taking on David Gill and Matt
Marlow (Camberley). Stanford and Bozas
lost no time in taking the first set 6-1 and in the second set seemed to play
sharper than ever. Gill and Marlow had
been hoping for revenge this year, but it wasn’t to be and Bozas and Stanford
won in a total of 37 minutes, 6-1 6-2.
The Ladies’ Doubles was the longest match of the day. Newcomers to the tournament Kathy Norkett and
Diane Petitt (Wrecclesham) played Kay Manners and Sam Williamson (Bourne). Manners and Williamson looked like they
wanted the first set as they stormed ahead to a 4-1 lead, but undaunted Norkett
and Petitt kept themselves in the match and gradually clawed back the
games. They then took the next 5 games
to claim the first set.
All four ladies had good service
actions and there were some great passing shots and on occasions some fine
volleying. The second set was a tight
one and Norkett and Petitt had game points to take it to 5 all, but eventually
Manners and Williamson won it 6-4. In
the final set, with honours even, Manners and Williamson picked up the pace a
bit and once more led 4-1. This time though
they were more determined not to lose their lead and after 2 hours and 28
minutes won the match 4-6 6-4 6-2.
Williamson then partnered Chris Iles (Bourne) in the Mixed
Doubles. Their opposition was Marlow and
has partner Sara Dorey (Elstead). In the
first set there seemed a reluctance by the ladies to hold their serve and points
were often won through the opposition’s errors, rather than through winning
shots. It wasn’t easy to predict who
would win this first set but Iles and Williamson eventually did after Marlow
dropped his serve for the first time in the ninth game.
The second set flowed much better, there were some fine closely
contested rallies but Marlow and Dorey had the edge this time, and Williamson
found herself playing in her 2nd three set match of the day.
In the third set the pairing of Marlow and Dorey picked up their
game and started to dominate. Marlow had
some lovely touches at the net and he and Dorey won the final set and the match
6-4 3-6 6-2.
This tournament is arranged by the
committee of the Aldershot and District LTA and is for tennis players in the
region (approx 10 mile radius of
Carole Lee
2007 Tournament Report
2006 Tournament Report
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