Ladies Championships 2026

Ladies Championships 2026

04/03/26: The Ladies Championships in association with Advanta Wealth got underway at Eton on Sunday, an excellent day of Fives taking the competition through to the semi-final stage.

After a couple of (very) late withdrawals, 21 pairs took to the courts on Sunday morning, a competitive-looking field with plenty of strength in depth.

The first phase of the competition consisted of a group phase, designed to establish a pecking order for the top seeds and to divide the field into three for the afternoon's play - the Main competition, the Plate and the Festival. As you might expect, there were quite a few quick matches in the group stage but there were also a handful of thrillers that had a key bearing on the composition of the latter stages. Top two seeds and perennial finalists Karen Hird & Charlotta Cooley and Ashley Lumbard & Emily Scoones cruised through comfortably, but the battle for places behind them was fierce. Multiple semi-finalist Harry Asquith was playing with 2024 Schools' champion Charlotte Barr in an intriguing pairing but they quickly found themselves in trouble against Shrewsbury School's top pair Sienna Earles & Millie Parry, going 0-5 down in a game to 15. They managed to steady the ship and got back into the game but it was then tight all the way to the finish. After nearly an hour of play, it got to 14-14 with both teams having chances. The key moment in the match then came as Millie hit a near perfect volley when serving at 14-14, the ball heading hard and low into the buttress and catching the lower side ledge for good measure. It looked like game over until from nowhere Charlotte twisted her body, stuck out a hand and flicked the ball onto the side wall and then onto the ledge on the front wall - an incredible match-saving moment which she & Harry capitalised upon by winning the rally and then scoring the winning point themselves.

Equally thrilling was the Group D match between Cholmeleians Marj Briscoe & Phoebe Bracken and the Berkhamstedian/Ipswichian scratch pair of Zoe Wheale & Eloise Carter. Phoebe & Marj had the pedigree, with trophy cabinets full to bursting with various age group trophies, but were short of match practice. At first, this didn't seem to matter as they eased into a 7-2 lead, but the hard-hitting Zoe & Eloise fought back well and found themselves 14-12 ahead and on the verge of a minor upset. They couldn't quite convert it into victory, however, the Cholmeleians holding their nerve to take the win 15-14. The third tight game of the group stage was the Group E match between Salopians Lizzie Ware & Katie Oswald and the new pairing of former finalist Rachel Wood & Ipswich youngster Betsy Laws, still only an U15. Lizzie made the semi-finals last year with Emma Graham, but Katie is currently studying in Copenhagen; it was a great effort to come back for the weekend to play, but practice facilities are thin on the ground in Denmark and Rachel & Betsy were able to take advantage of a little bit of rustiness with a 15-11 win, based around Rachel's set piece and Betsy's power.

The group phase settled the identity and order of the top six seeds heading into the quarter-finals, leaving four pairs to play-off for the last two places. Sienna & Millie recovered well from the disappointment of their earlier defeat to record an impressive 15-9 win against Repton's Bri Hansen-Hoare & Meghna Rajan, who should be one of their main challengers for the Girls Open title at the Schools' Championships in a few weeks time. Zoe & Eloise managed a similar recovery, beating veterans Fiona Barnes & Mandie Barnes to claim the last of the eight spots.

The reward for winning the play-offs was a chance to challenge the top two seeds in a best of five quarter-final - a daunting prospect! Sienna & Millie fought hard but were given an object lesson in precision and control by champions since 2013 Karen & Charlotta. Zoe & Eloise managed to get a few more points out of Ashley & Emily, but were still comfortably beaten, Emily's formidable set piece game proving particularly potent. The other two quarter-finals showed the difficulty of coming into a high quality tournament on the back on minimal court time; Phoebe in particular was struggling with a bruised hand and after she & Marj had lost a tight first game against the impressive Rachel & Betsy, the writing was on the wall, Rachel & Betsy racing through the second and third games to qualify for the semi-finals, much to their delight. There was a similar story in the final match, as Harry & Charlotte - battle-hardened after their tough morning - clicked into a higher gear to go 2-0 up on Lizzie & Katie before holding off one final Salopian assault to recover from 9-10 down to win 13-10 in the third.

The semi-finals will take place at Eton alongside the Kinnaird Cup semi-finals at 2:30pm on Sunday 22nd March, with the final the following Sunday.

There was plenty of other Fives going on, of course, as the losing play-off pairs joined the group third place finishers in a fabulous Plate competition. Bri & Meghna emphatically proved themselves to be the strongest pair, but there were some terrific matches, with little to choose between the likes of Highgate U16 pair Laila Offeringa & Veronica Maslovsky, Fiona & Mandie, Brigands Sasha Howgate & Kristiana Smilovska, Oxbridge pair Emilia Collinson & Rachel McCormack and Shrewsbury's Cerys Tippings & Tiffany Leung and Charlotte Harker & Ariana Marais.

Some of the younger and less experienced Shrewsbury pairs were joined in the Festival by Black Cup winner Abi Butcher (playing with Shrewsbury's Emillia Griffiths) and Ipswich School's Anastasia Moore & Rebecca Kelly. The future of Shrewsbury Fives was on view in the finals of Plate A & B, while the Ipswichians found their groove with a dominant win in the final over Abi & Emilia.

My thanks go to Eton for hosting the tournament, to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship, to Mandie Barnes & Natalie Lilienthal for their organisational work, to Andy Barnard, Karen Hird, David Exley, Peter Boughton, Charlotta Cooley and Billy Bolton for organising the school pairs and to all those who came and played and made it such an enjoyable day.

Main Competition

Play-Offs

M.Parry & S.Earles beat B.Hansen-Hoare & M.Rajan 15-9

Z.Wheale & E.Carter beat F.Barnes & M.Barnes 15-5

Quarter-Finals

K.Hird & C.Cooley beat M.Parry & S.Earles 3-0 (12-2, 12-0, 12-1)

R.Wood & B.Laws beat M.Briscoe & P.Bracken 3-0 (12-10, 12-3, 12-3)

H.Asquith & C.Barr beat L.Ware & K.Oswald 3-0 (12-6, 12-8, 13-10)

A.Lumbard & E.Scoones beat Z.Wheale & E.Carter 3-0 (12-5, 12-3, 12-1)

Semi-Finals, Eton, 2:30pm Sunday 22nd March

K.Hird & C.Cooley v R.Wood & B.Laws

A.Lumbard & E.Scoones v H.Asquith & C.Barr