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2013 Ladies Final: Cooley and Hird triumph in five game thriller

C.Cooley & K.Hird beat D.Redmond & M.Catmull 3-2 (5-12, 12-7, 2-12, 12-4, 12-2)

The final of the 2013 Ladies Championships was won at Eton on Sunday by Charlotta Cooley and Karen Hird who came from 1-2 down to beat top seeds Dominique Redmond and Marianne Catmull in a feisty five game thriller and bring to an end Dom's remarkable eight year winning streak in this competition.

This always promised to be an exciting match, with the long-standing rivalry in this competition between Dom Redmond and Charlotta Cooley given an extra twist this year with Karen Hird in her first final after forming a new partnership with Charlotta, whose partner in last year's showpiece - Marianne Catmull - was this time teaming up with Dom in the absence this year of Lia Redmond.

With a sizable crowd watching, the match took a while to get going, with plenty of unforced errors and signs of nerves from all four players. The first game was decided by some formidable cutting from Dom and some agile returning from Marianne; this gave the top seeds the edge in the set piece and led to them winning the first game comfortably 12-5.

As the nerves began to disappear and the feet began to move, the quality of the Fives and the length of the rallies improved in the second game. Dom's cuts were still proving tough for Karen and Charlotta to handle, but they began to attack Marianne's cutting more than in the first game, reduced their error count and didn't allow Dom to dominate the top step play as much as she had done in the first game. The result was 12-7 to Karen and Charlotta and a level match.

The third game started with all four players now well into their stride and looked like it was going to go the distance. Charlotta then tweaked something in her shoulder and was clearly in some discomfort. The doubt spread to the rest of her game and with Karen powerless to help, Dominique and Marianne scented blood and went in for the kill, with Dom in particular bossing the game around the buttress and racing away to a 12-2 win to retake the lead.

At this stage there was a clear sense of anticlimax in the air as the crowd wondered if the challengers were going to fade away in the fourth as they had done in the third. The break between games allowed Karen and Charlotta the time to get themselves back on an even keel mentally and for Charlotta to realise that her injury was only affecting her cuts and volleys and that if she adapted those shots to play with spin and placement rather than power, they were still in with a chance.

So it proved in the fourth game; Dom's cutting finally began to slip just slightly below the phemonenally high standard of the first three games and Charlotta simultaneously began to find some of the cut returns that had been eluding her earlier in the match. Karen began to let her attacking instincts take over, with more aggressive front and mid court volleying and the tide quickly turned. Dom and Marianne continued to fight hard, with Dom still a formidable presence on the top step and Marianne offering determined support, but the momentum was now with Karen and Charlotta and it stayed there right to the end as they swept through the fourth and fifth games, conceding only six further points.

This was Karen's first win in this competition and Charlotta's second, in her tenth final and nine years after her previous victory. With Dom and Marianne no doubt out for revenge, Lia Redmond and Emily Scoones hopefully available again next year and the young Highgate girls continuing to improve, next year's competition promises to be the most fiercely contested yet.

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