Old College Lawn Tennis Club
Gallery Road • Dulwich • SE21 7AB
For the first time this year, guest correspondent ChatGPT brings you the day's news:
Shockwaves, Survivors and Saturday Drama
Saturday brought the Championships into their second week and, with it, the familiar shift from participation to contention. The draw is beginning to thin. The hopeful conversations are becoming harder edged. Every round now moves somebody closer to a final and somebody else towards next year.
Men's Singles: Seeds Survive, But The Field Narrows
There were no headline upsets in the Men's Singles draw, but plenty of evidence that the road ahead will not be straightforward.
Chris Alstadt [9] moved through efficiently against Simon Hancock, while Daniel Ajegbo [15] and Benson Yuen [11] both continued their campaigns. Yuen perhaps produced the escape act of the day, recovering from a set down to defeat David Jovic 3-6, 6-0, 10-8 in a deciding championship tiebreak.
Joe Tyndall [16] also remains in the hunt after overcoming Charles Casey in another deciding breaker. After splitting the opening two sets, Tyndall found another gear to take the match 10-3 in the decider.
Lewis Henderson [6] booked his place in the next round and is starting to look under-priced.
Elsewhere, Chris Alstadt [9] ended Simon Hancock's run 6-3, 6-3 - the tournament continues to move steadily towards the heavyweight clashes many are beginning to anticipate.
Weiland and Whitehead Lay Down A Marker
The most emphatic result of the day may have come in the Men's Doubles.
Top seeds Jo Weiland and Matt Whitehead dispatched Roman Gonitel and Nicola Grasso 6-0, 6-1 in a performance that served notice to the rest of the field.
Joe Reeve and Benson Yuen also progressed with a straight-sets win over Tresham Graham and Charles Taylor.
Veterans Produce The Drama
The Men's Doubles 50+ event delivered some of the day's tightest contests.
Peter Allen and Mark Cheung recovered from losing the opening set to defeat Roland Green and Rajesh Raghavan 6-7, 6-0, 10-8.
Simon Godfrey and Clive Sherlock followed a similar script, overturning a first-set deficit to beat Anthony Lock and Philippe Mathon 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.
In the Mixed Doubles 50+, Robert Henderson and Anne Traynor edged Simon Godfrey and Silvia Schubert in a marathon championship tiebreak, eventually prevailing 12-10.
Flind Advances, Ireson Fights Back
Vicky Flind [1] continued her impressive progress through the Women's Singles 50+ draw, defeating Yuki Langley 6-2, 6-3 to reach the next stage.
The Epic “Overnight Match of the Day” saw Charlotte Ireson recover from losing the first set on Thursday to win this afternoon, finally defeating Rebecca Taylor 6-7, 7-5, 10-3.
The Juniors Take Centre Stage
The junior events continue to provide some of the most competitive tennis of the Championships.
Rishi Venkat enjoyed an excellent day, defeating Leo Belsey before following up with victory over Sebastian Soegianto in the U18 event.
Joaquin Dumlao [2] needed a deciding championship tiebreak to overcome Soegianto, while Seb Bennion also recovered from a set down to defeat Rhys Haeusser.
Aryaan Webb and Marceau Bihr-Filby both progressed in the U14 draw, while Leon Earp edged Noah Ghezzi in one of the day's closest contests.
The junior fields are now beginning to reach the stage where genuine title contenders are emerging.
Championship Watch
As the second week begins, the shape of the Championships is becoming clearer.
The leading seeds remain largely intact. The junior events are producing some of the closest matches of the tournament. The doubles draws are beginning to generate rivalries and repeat appearances. And in the Men's Singles, the list of potential contenders remains reassuringly long.
The dream is still alive for many. The margin for error, however, is getting smaller by the day.
Around The Grounds
One Point. One Shot. One Very Awkward Winner.
The inaugural One Point Slam, organised by George Hope and generously sponsored by Herne Hill Sports, has surely secured its place on the Old College calendar.
With Joe Tyndall on the microphone, walk-on music echoing around Court 1, food, drinks, fundraising and a healthy amount of banter, the atmosphere felt somewhere between a tennis tournament, village fete and low-budget gladiatorial contest.
Members were also treated to the first public glimpse of the forthcoming OC Club '26 range: think Stüssy meets Palace meets Nick Kyrgios.
And the winner?
Club coach Alex Heath.
To be fair, Alex was only drafted in at the last minute to fill a vacant slot. He had to navigate a series of moral mazes to progress. It wasn't his fault. And, he does have a lot of rackets that need a big bag. But it does mean the first ever One Point Slam champion is a man who probably should know what he's doing.
Several performances deserve special mention.
Dan Ajegbo's second serve somehow became a legitimate tactical weapon.
Arlo, Monty, Amelie, Astrid and Greta flew the flag magnificently for the junior section. There are few better ways to learn how to handle pressure than facing a single deciding point with a crowd gathered around Court 1. None of them appeared remotely concerned.
Aruna Iyengar earned plenty of admirers by taking the game directly to Joe Reeve while he waited it out at the other end. Fortune did not favour the brave.
Meanwhile Lewis Henderson appeared to use the event as an opportunity to deliver a series of carefully calibrated psychological messages to possible Championship rivals on his route to the final.
Most importantly, the event raised money for the clubhouse fund, brought members together and produced exactly the sort of atmosphere that this club should be famous for.
Many thanks to George Hope for organising the evening and to Herne Hill Sports for their support.
Sunday Order of Play
Quirk of the draw:
Ivan Savage & Mark Alderson play Henderson Père (with James Hall) at 3pm and then Henderson Frères at 4.30pm, with a high possibility that they will be throwing darts at pictures of all of them by 6pm (joke written by a human).
1.30pm
Women’s Doubles 50+
• Nadya Chernysheva / Lorna Tidmarsh vs Aruna Iyengar / Alyson Fox
3:00pm
Women's Doubles 50+ – Quarter Finals
• Anna Leslie / Manjit Roseghini vs Sally Casey / Yuki Langley
• Caroline Beck / Nicola Cox vs Juliet Griffiths / Erin He
Women's Singles – Quarter Finals
• Jane Buswell vs Hannah Pulford [2]
Men's Doubles – Round of 16
• Karanvir Anand [5] / Tom Hladick vs Daniel Malyon / Jonathan Malyon
Men's Doubles 50+ – Round of 16
• Ivan Savage / Mark Alderson vs James Hall / Bob Henderson
Boys Singles U12 – Round of 16
• Fraser Davison vs Bo Anderson
Girls Singles U14
• Amelie Coletto v Thandi Chapman
• Greta Lewis vs Mollie McDarby
________________________________________
4:30pm
Men’s Doubles 50+ – Round of 16
• Jonathan Pearson and Bill Meredith vs Vincent De Kime and Nick Robinson
• Hamid Irshad / Adam Burgis vs Mark Cheung / Peter Allen
Women's Singles – Quarter Finals
• Virunee Viravong [1] vs Arabella Milne
• Silvia Schubert vs Jess Moody [2]
Boys U12 – Round of 16
• Nathaniel Tyler vs Arihaan Anand
Men's Doubles – Round of 16
• Michael Feeney / Robert Green vs Luke Hymas [3] / Dafydd James
• Mark Alderson and Ivan Savage vs Lewis Henderson and Tom Henderson
________________________________________
6:00pm
Mixed Doubles 50+ – Quarter Final
• Hamid Irshad [1] / Alyson Fox vs Nicholas James and Nicola Cox
Men's Doubles – Round of 16
• Simon Hancock / Adrian Hornsby vs Tom Fenton [2] / Dominic Pearson
Women's Doubles – Quarter Finals
• Jane Buswell [2] / Hannah Pulford vs Arabella Milne and Katie McDermott
Men’s Singles
• Henry Britton [3] vs Hugo Odgers
• Matt Whitehead [5] vs Sam Foster
Boys U18 – Round of 16
• Seb Bennion vs Armen Tengayev
Boys U14 – Round of 16
• Phoenix Bidder [1] vs Leon Earp
________________________________________
7:30pm
Women's Doubles – Quarter Final
• Jessica Bosi / Alyson Fox vs Emma Michell and Jess Moody
Women's Doubles 50+ – Quarter Final
• Susan Chung-Atlee / Anne Traynor vs Judy Hammond [2] / Silvia Schubert
Men's Doubles 50+ – Round of 16
• Jed Blacknell [4] / Henry Britton vs Daniel Ajegbo and Nick Stott
Men's Singles
• George Hope [14] vs Lawrence Escott
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