Club Champs Order of Play & Highlights Day 12

Dear All,

Wednesday evening saw the beginning of the Business End of the tournament, with stars and seeds glittering all over the club… Both youth and experience were on display – though not necessarily on the same court. I allow you, the reader, to decide who falls in to which category…

Leading the charge were the Ladies LD50: Gilly Kirwan and Mahv Tavassoli were a perfectly coordinated pair – both sartorially in their black and white, and athletically in their tenacity at the net and from the back. Many of the rallies would have exhausted a seasoned Grand Slammer in their length, and deuces littered the scorecard, before Aruna Iyangar (dazzling in head-to-toe Persil White) and Alyson Fox claimed victory.

Next door to this triumphant display of Experience on court 6 were the U16 boys Seb Bannion and Noah Zhu a slippin’, a slidin’ and a drop-shottin’ their way through 2 sets of hugely impressive tennis played in a great spirit.

Spotted sloping off in the direction of College Road, Virunee Viravong and Jane Buswell opted for the quasi-rural tranquility of court 7 for their LS semifinal match: guile, speed and power all on display from both players at various points, before Virunee earned her seeding and progressed.

The other ladies’ singles semi consisted of no such shrinking violets, with Jess Moody and Hannah Pulford putting on a hitting masterclass on court 1, lots of members of their first team colleagues turning out to support (or take notes - both would have been legitimate reasons). Continuing the Persil White theme, Jess was wearing a stylish and immaculately white Nike crepe skirt with a contrasting black racerback tee. Sadly, this was not enough to put off Hannah , however, who was on sparkling form - barely missing a shot all match as she cruised to her first ladies' singles final at OC.

Youth and Experience were both represented in the MD action on Wednesday night. The Coaches Double Act of Hamid Irshad and Luke Hymas stretched the first seeds Dominic Pearson and Tom Fenton, particularly in the second set, but ultimately the tournament seeding committee was once more vindicated and an upset averted. Top fashion shout out to Luke and Hamid for wearing collared tennis shirts, a nice gentlemanly touch in a sea of round-necks.

No sooner had hands been shaken across the net of the MD than The King of Skull and Fluoro, Adam Burgis escorted Hamid and his collared tee on to court 6 to contest the MD50+ against Silver Foxes Charlie Casey and Miguel Viera . Another Silver Fox, Phil Harper, in the opposite half of the MD50+ draw, was getting minute-to-minute updates on the match progression sent to him in Malaga where he is currently escorting a school trip (or is that simply a smoke-screen for a period of intense pre-match training before the MD50+ semi on Saturday… who knows…). Number one seeds Hamid and Adam , in fine form, ultimately took this one 6-2, 6-3 to book their place in Saturday's final.

Miles Speer and Lewis Henderson went out on a fashion “limb” with arm sleeves – black for Miles , on-trend orange for Lewis . Sun protection? Musculoskeletal support? Or channelling an obscure haute couture Paris trend? Who knows, but the tennis produced by the encased arms was stellar. Despite being impeded by some rather painful looking cramp, Lewis won this one 6-3, 7-5 to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against number one seed Tom Fenton .

Tomorrow's matches to watch:

Tomorrow night brings more Youth and Experience – Yuki Langley taking on Alyson Fox ; Luke Hymas and his protegée Emma Michell pitch their wits against Joe Tyndall and Hannah Pulford . Emma and Hannah better have plenty left in the tank, as they’ll be required to plough straight on in to a LD SF accompanied by Jess Moody and Jane Buswell respectively. Doc Dom Pearson will also be on court, continuing his progress through the MS with a semifinal encounter against Matt Whitehead .

25 June: Order of Play

5.15pm
u12 girls: Koto O’Sullivan vs Jeanne Dougie
12boys: Ralphie Odgers vs Aryaan Webb [7]
12boys: Arihaan Anand vs Fabien Ofori-Sunner (6pm)
u14 boys: Zach Fernandez vs Fabien Ofori-Sunner (7pm)

6.30pm
u16 Boys: Emeric Monfort vs Rocco Jacob
MS SF: Tom Fenton [1] vs Lewis Henderson [4] or Miles Speer [5]
WS50+ SF: Yuki Langley vs Alyson Fox [2]
XD SF: L.Hymas/E.Michell [1] vs J.Tyndall/H.Pulford [3]

7.45pm
WD SF: J.Buswell/H.Pulford [3] vs E.Michell/J.Moody [2]
MS SF: Matt Whitehead [2] vs Dom Pearson [3]