Finals Day Order of Play and BBQ Bonanza, Plus Day 14 Highlights

Dear All,

A simply stunning night of OC tennis on a beautiful summer’s eve. Hostess with the mostess Bob Henderson was in fine form serving up pizza, watermelon and sweet treats a plenty. What a guy!

A tantalising early evening match saw father daughter pair Hamid and Kiran Irshad take on Virunee Viravong and Alasdair Bradley . There were some fantastic reaction volleys on display from all, but it was Alasdair’s dominance at the net and Virunee’s quality at the back that saw the second seeds through in style.

Back to back action for Hamid , he teamed up with partner Alyson Fox against host hero Bob Henderson and Anne Traynor . A brilliant match saw two shots of the day, with Bob and Anne pulling off exquisite lob winners after two long exchanges. The match point finished in chaos, with a superb long rally ending with a cruel Hamid net cord winner - a chorus of jeers from the crowd followed. The top seeds won 6-2, 6-0.

Matching visors were on display for a sun-filled and very windy court 7. Vicky Flind and Anna Leslie played out a marathon match in the heat, with some incredible rallies and impressive court coverage. Vicky came out on top in a tight 6-4 7-5 scoreline.

Match of the day came from the men’s singles 50+ semi-final. Some brilliant point building from Jonathan Pearson saw him take an entertaining first set 6-3 against a fired up Charlie Casey . Absolutely brilliant to see some serve and volleying consistently on display. The battle continued in the second, with Charlie finding some inch-perfect passing shots past Jonathan , but it wasn’t to be, with Jonathan seeing it out 6-3 in the second.

A big hitting match up in the men’s doubles quarter final involved Alasdair Bradley and Tom Hladick taking on top seeds Matt Whitehead and Jo Weiland . Alasdair was out for blood after being dispatched in the men’s singles by Jo , but an early break of Tom’s serve gave Matt and Jo confidence, and they held their nerve by seeing out the first set out 6-3. The second set started with change of tactics and the i-formation for Tom and Ali, and it brought on early success with a hold, but they were broken soon after and the no.1 seeds saw it through winning a very high level set 6-4.

Tomorrow - it’s Finals Day!!!

A wonderful day of tennis, BBQ food, Pimms, garden games and sunshine awaits!

There will be some incredible tennis on display, with junior finals starting at 10.30am and open & vets finals starting from 1.30pm

Will Dom Pearson defeat reigning champ Tom Fenton in the men’s singles? Can Hannah Pulford take the triple crown away from Virunee Viravong ? And will Hamid Irshad and Alyson Fox still be able to walk after playing two matches this evening? All will be answered tomorrow. See you there!

What else is on?

For the first time ever, we will be live tweeting final's day on whatsapp, thanks to the masterful mind of James Ireson . If you want to follow the highs, the lows, the epic action shots, terrible line calls, outlandish outfits and all the rest of it minute by minute (or possibly hour by hour, depending on pimms consumption) then join the group here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/H0yAUWUwHnPIsBiPJfUHzQ

Also, the committee will be doing a Clubhouse Regeneration Project Update tomorrow afternoon. This will just be a 5 minute update but committee members will be around during the day to answer any other questions about the project.

Saturday 28th June - Final's Day Order of Play

10.30am

Mini Tennis Club Championships: U8, U9 and U10

1.30pm
Womens Singles Final: Virunee Viravong [1] vs Hannah Pulford [3]
Mens Singles 50+ Final: Jonathan Pearson [1] vs Adam Burgis [2] OR Marc Meyohas
Womens Singles 50+ Final: Vicky Flind [1] vs Alyson Fox [2]
Mens Doubles Semi Final: M.Whitehead/J.Weiland [2] vs M.Speer/J.Reeve [4]
U12 Boys Final: Harry Au [3] vs Phoenix Bidder [2]

3pm
Mens Singles Final: Tom Fenton [1] vs Dom Pearson [3]
Womens Doubles: V.Viravong/A.Sergeant vs J.Buswell/H.Pulford [3]
Mens Doubles 50+: A.Burgis/H.Irshad [1] vs JP/Bill OR Marc/Phil
Womens Doubles 50+: J.Hammond/S.Schubert [1] vs A.Fox/A.Iyengar [2]
U16 Boys Final: Harry Au vs Noah Zhu
U16 Girls Final: Livia Odgers [1] vs Dominique Brooks [2]

4.30pm
Mens Doubles Final: Matt/Jo [2] OR Joe/Miles [4] vs D.Pearson/ Tom.Fenton [1]
Mixed Doubles Final: J.Tyndall/H.Pulford [4] vs A.Bradley/V.Viravong [2]
Mixed Doubles 50+ Final: H.Irshad/A.Fox vs M.Viera/M.Tavassoli OR A.Burgis/A.Iyengar
U12 Girls Final: Jeanne Doguie [1] vs Omaira Anand
U14 Boys Final: Rishi/Seb.S/Fabien vs Phoenix Bidder [2]
U18 Boys Final: Marly Amarteifeo [1] vs Elliot Ofori