Twelve mini tennis players took part in the red draw for the Oliver Nelson Trophy, an 8 and under section was added for the first time this year and took place at Beverley Leisure Centre.
Three Beverley youngsters were making their tournament debut, Matthew Wild, Isobel Sharman and Max Harris-Smith, all three enjoyed their first taste of competition and acquitted themselves well under match conditions.
In the group stages Robert Thomlinson proved too strong for the opposition to take group A without dropping a game, he was joined in the semi finals by Thomas Atkinson & Mia Rawlins from group C who had finished level on wins with North Cave’s Millie Skelton who was unlucky to miss out on a place in the next round on a points average despite playing some fantastic tennis.
Group B was also very keenly fought with Lucy Holtby and Daxiong Zhengfang Guo both undefeated going into their last match against each other. In a hard fought battle Lucy narrowly lost out 10-7.
In the first semi final Cottingham’s six year old Daxiong took on Beverley Leisure Centre player Thomas. In an entertaining encounter the fast improving Beverley player made it to the final with a 10-4 victory.
The second semi final produced a tense tactical match with Cottingham LTC left hander Mia beating Robert, the quality of tennis from start to finish being of the highest level.
The final provided a fantastic exhibition of mini red tennis. Breath taking rallies of 20 to 30 shots kept the crowd on the edge of their seats with
Thomas carving out a 9-7 lead and within one point of victory. Mia stormed back to win the next two nail biting points to make it 9-9 before Thomas produced a dream drop shot to take the title.
“I was thrilled with the way all of the players on the Leisure Centre, Cottingham LTC and Walkington TC programmes performed” said Head Coach Paul Holtby, “they have all worked very hard at their tennis and impress the coaching team with their level of play. It was great for some of the newer players to see such a high class final which shows them what can be achieved”.
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