Club Champs Order of Play & Highlights Day 13

Dear All,

“The true opponent, the enfolding boundary, is the player themselves. Always and only the self out there, on court, to be met, fought, brought to the table to hammer out terms. The competing player on the net’s other side: they are not the foe: they are more the partner in the dance.” (David Foster Wallace).

True David, True… but today's competitors weren’t interesting in dancing as the tournament reached the semi-finals stage, with the Big Beasts of OCLTC fighting it out to reach Saturday’s finals. The Seeding Committee can sit smugly in self-congratulatory satisfaction…. Tonight was almost exclusively Seeds 1-4 across all competitions.

The notable exception was the unseeded Yuki Langley , who has mastered the art of enjoying her tennis and playing with a smile, although it was not enough to stop the unflappable Alyson Fox , who won 6-1, 6-2.

Two more ‘tennis smilers’ were in action in the Mixed Doubles semi, as Emma Michell & Luke Hymas took on Hannah Pulford & Joe Tyndall (box fresh, hot pink trainers). A tight first set was clinched with a popped champagne cork from the spectator benches: it hit Joe mid-rally, but he still calmly held on to win the point. Hannah’s inspired all-round game proved the difference as the Pulford/Tyndall pairing ran out 7-5, 6-1 winners.

Emma and Hannah quickly swapped partners, still on opposite sides of the net, and stayed out on court 5 for the women’s semi final. With the midges biting, this twilight tennis saw Hannah & Jane Buswell triumph over Emma & Jess Moody in a championship tie-break. Three finals await Hannah on Saturday - can she snatch Virunee Viravong's treble from last year?

The mens’ competition reached its penultimate stage on Court 1 where 16 year old (but already proven threat) Lewis Henderson took on top seed Tom Fenton . The tennis came close to the David Foster Wallace ideal: a high quality ‘dance’ with an astonishing 30 shot rally, quickly followed by a 40 shot upgrade a few games later. Top seed Tom moves into the final with a 6-3, 6-2 victory, having been made to work for every single. point. Lewis’ time will surely come.

Tom’s opponent on Saturday will be Dom Pearson who won an alpha male, chest-beating smackdown of a semi-final vs Matt Whitehead . Starting on court 2, Dom played like a man possessed to win the first set 6-0. After a controversial court change to Court 1 (was this a commercial decision to increase drinks sales?), Matt fought back in a hard-hitting second set but lost the deciding tie-break. A Dom v Tom final it is.

And finally, the prize for tonight’s most fun match (based on laughs and banter) was Joe Reeve & Miles Speer vs Alex Walker & Benson Yuen . In the most extraordinary moment, Joe went full-Keanu Reeves, “matrixing” behind the baseline to avoid a smash that was already going long… only to let it hit him and lose the point. Winning 6-3, 7-6 made it all alright in the end.

Tomorrow’s matches to watch:

Big, “clutch” moments await tomorrow as the semi-final show continues. U16 boys and girls will be in action first ( Dominique Brooks vs Viola Facchini , and Marty Amarteifeo vs Hugo Dodgers ) before a festival of Over 50s tennis with Charles Casey vs Jonathan Pearson , Vicky Flind vs Anna Leslie and Miguel Viera & Mahvash Tavassoli vs Adam Burgis & Aruna Iyengar . Plus Hamid and Kiran Irshad will pitch their exhibition brand of inter-generational doubles against Alasdair Bradley and Virunee Viravong (who will also play the womens’ doubles semi final with Amy Sergeant vs Alyson Fox and Jess Bosi ).

Order of Play: 26th June

5pm

Girls u16 SF: Dominique Brooks [2] vs Viola Facchini
XD SF: H.Irshad/K.Irshad vs A.Bradley/V.Viravong

6.30pm
Boys u16 SF: Marly Amarteifeo [1] vs Hugo Odgers
XD50 SF+: A.Traynor/R.Henderson [4]vs H.Irshad/A.Fox [1]
WS50+: Vicky Flind vs Anna Leslie
XD50+ SF: M.Viera/M.Tavassoli vs A.Burgis/A.Iyengar

7.45pm
MS50+ SF: Jonathan Pearson vs Charlie Casey
WD SF: A.Fox/J/Bosi vs V.Viravong/A.Sergeant
MD QF A.Bradley/T.Hladick vs M.Whitehead/J.Weiland