2004 Universities Tournament

James Toop reports:

The 2004 Universities Championships took place at King Edward's School, Birmingham on Saturday 6th November. It involved pairs from Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Newcastle and one pair from the school.

Cambridge provided three very evenly matched pairs and two of those made up group A with Oxford. The other group saw Imperial, Cambridge 2, Newcastle and KES Birmingham fight it out.

As expected in group A, Cambridge 1 and Cambridge 3 were involved in a long close match, with the top pair eventually winning 12-11, 12-10. Both pairs then beat Oxford easily to progress to the semi-finals. In the other group, both Cambridge 2 and Newcastle won their other two matches quickly and faced each other in a close group decider. Newcastle ran out winners 15-13.

However, the group results did not prove indicative of how the semi-finals would progress. These were contested as one game foot at 15 points in which anything could, and did, happen. In the first semi-final Cambridge 1 and 2 matched each other point for point, both edging closer to 15. It got to 13-12, then 13-14 and after saving match points, Cambridge 1 served. However, they lost both points and the game continued to change hands with both pairs saving the match during some long, tense rallies. It was anyone's game and eventually Cambridge 2 took their chance to overturn the group A winners. Newcastle got off to a good start against Cambridge 3, but were never able to get a big lead. Newcastle led 12-10 at one point, but then Cambridge clawed it back to have match point, which they took on the first occasion.

Due to the late hour, the final was postponed and to be played in Cambridge. The change of venue did not affect Dexter Davis and Pete Nichols, who continued the excellent form they showed at Birmingham and beat their colleagues Oliver Cooley and James O'Callaghan in two straight games (12-4, 12-4). This is the first time that Cambridge have won the University Championships and they are to be congratulated on providing three evenly matched pairs, all of which made the semi-finals or further.

King Edward's showed their skills on their home courts by beating Oxford and Imperial to win the plate.

Our thanks to King Edward's School and George Worthington for the use of the courts and I look forward to seeing all students again at the same time next year.

Results

Semi-finals

Cambridge 3 beat Newcastle 15-14

Cambridge 2 beat Cambridge 1 15-14

Final

Cambridge 2 (D Davis and P Nichols) beat Cambridge 3 (O Cooley and J O'Callaghan) 2-0 (12-4, 12-4) in a disappointingly one-sided final.