Hird & Houlden Back In The Mixed
13/04/26: Karen Hird & Riki Houlden reversed the result of last year's Mixed Tournament in association with Advanta Wealth at Eton on Sunday, defeating Emily Scoones & Hugo Young in the final.
This year's tournament featured 24 pairs, an excellent entry with a strength in depth that meant there were going to be some tough and competitive matches right from the start. The field was divided into four groups of six pairs, the top two in each group qualifying for the quarter-finals, the 3rd and 4th placed pairs heading into Plate A and the 5th and 6th placed pairs into Plate B.
The first key game came in Group B, where Tim & Tash Gregory got off to a good start against Rachel Wood & Tom McCahon and then managed to hold off the inevitable comeback to win 12-11. With former champions Karen Hird & Riki Houlden in the same group, that put Tash & Tim in pole position to take the second qualifying spot with the Oxford University/Cholmeleian pair of Lorenza Valensise & Joel Robb joining Rachel & Tom in Plate A, while North Oxford's Andy Bishop & Sophie Clifford-King and ex-Oxford player Emma Gilbert and her brand new father partner took the final two qualifying places.
Defending champions Emily Scoones & Hugo Young came through unscathed in Group A despite a strong challenge from Westminsters Elana Garfield-Osen & Laurie Brock, who claimed the second qualifying place ahead of Emilia Collinson & Fred Prickett and Sarah Jackman & James Grant-Peterkin, with former Cambridge pair Jamie Lai & Charlotte Bowman and Newbury's Sasha Howgate & Dylan Johnson having to set their sights on Plate B.
There was much interest in the make-up of Group C and the return of the champions from 2002, 2004 and 2005, Charlotta & Chris Cooley. Among those lined up against them were two ambitious pairs from the younger generation, the EFA Chair and the Girls U15 and U16 champion. Matt Chinery & Sze-Lynn Yuen almost caused a big upset in the first round, narrowly losing 11-12 to Alex Abrahams & Zoe Wheale. Alex & Zoe made the most of that narrow escape, going through the rest of the group unbeaten, while Jessye Tu & Noah Caplin capitalised on some understandable rustiness from Chris (he's been in the US for the best part of 20 years now) to win 12-9 against the Cooleys. Charlotta & Chris then showed their experience, disappearing on a car hire collection mission for a couple of hours and keeping themselves fresh for the Plate, while Alex & Zoe defeated Jessye & Noah 12-10 to top the group. Matt & Sze-Lynn had done enough with their early burst of form to claim the other spot in Plate A ahead of Ipswich youngsters Millie Hodgkinson & Jake Shelley and Cambridge women's captain Anna Fitzpatrick and Fives debutant Sam Brittan.
The final group threw up some fabulous matches all the way down the order, with North Oxford's Olivia Prankerd Smith & Stefan Nowinski defeating Lancing's Matt Davis & Kristiana Smilovska 12-11 to claim fourth place and a spot in the higher plate. The Ipswich School coach/pupil pairing of Peter Boughton & Abbie Gammage were beginning to hit their stride towards the end of the group stages, while the top three places were keenly fought over by Ashley Lumbard & Ryan Perrie, Betsy Laws & Prajeeth Sathiyamoorthy and Eloise Carter & Aroop Bhattacharya. Ashley & Ryan struck first, negotiating a tricky match against Eloise & Aroop 12-8. Eloise & Aroop's chances of qualification for the quarter-finals were then ended by Betsy & Prajeeth, who produced an inspired performance to win 12-4, and they backed this up in the final round with a 12-10 win over Ashley & Ryan to qualify in top spot.
Betsy & Prajeeth, Karen & Riki and Emily & Hugo all continued their group winning form into the quarter-finals, winning comfortably against Tash & Tim, Ashley & Ryan and Jessye & Noah respectively. The runners-up from Group A - Elana & Laurie - became the fourth pair to make it to the semi-finals, 15-10 winners in an excellent match against Zoe & Alex. The semi-finals also went to form, Karen & Riki and Emily & Hugo proving themselves to be head and shoulders above the rest of the field and bringing to an end the excellent runs of Elana & Laurie and Betsy & Prajeeth.
Last year's final was a see-saw three game epic with Emily & Hugo coming out on top; both Karen & Riki had been hampered by injury though and were determined to regain the title they had won in 2023 and 2024. Right from the start they were in control of the final: there was some excellent Fives from all four players but Karen's trademark cut returning and touch round the buttress and Riki's precision and court coverage were too much for Emily & Hugo, who were eventually forced into making errors that their opponents simply weren't making. A good sized crowd had stayed to watch the final and were treated to some wonderful rallies, but there was little doubt surrounding the result, a convincing 12-6, 12-6 win for Karen & Riki.
Earlier in the afternoon, the two "main" plate competitions and their various offshoots had achieved their twin objectives of producing some fun and close matches and thoroughly exhausting everyone. In Plate A - for the "Dossi Dish" - the Cooleys cunning two hour break strategy was paying off (if anyone has any incriminating CCTV footage of large numbers of Cooleys in an Eton beer garden between 1pm and 2:30pm rather than looking harrassed at a car rental desk somewhere in Heathrow, please do send it in) as they stormed through their quarter-final against Olivia & Stefan then just about held on 15-13 in a humdinger of a semi-final against Rachel & Tom, who already had a tough 15-10 quarter-final win against Sarah & James in their legs. In the other half of the draw, Eloise & Aroop cruised past Sze-Lynn & Matt in the quarters, while Emilia & Fred put in a strong performance to see off Lorenza & Joel. This semi-final was another superb match, Emilia & Fred almost pulling off a stunning comeback after a poor start and Eloise & Aroop digging deep to hold on to win 15-11. After two such close semi-finals, it was no surprise that the final was also a tight one, but with a lot of the rust now chipped off for Chris and a sniff of a trophy for Charlotta, the Cooleys were able to finish on a high with a 15-12 win and get their hands on some more mixed tournament silverware, if not the same one they won over 20 years ago.
Plate B offered a shot at redemption for those pairs who had had a tough morning and it was Kristiana & Matt - perhaps unsurprisingly given how close they were to qualifying for the higher plate - who came out on top with a 15-5 win in the final over Sophie & Andy, for whom it was perhaps a game too many after an excellent semi-final win for them over Millie & Jake.
There were also losing quarter-finalist plates for all three competitions, with Ashley & Ryan, Lorenza & Joel and Peter & Abbie all rewarded for their perseverance with victories.
Our thanks go to Eton for hosting the competition, to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship and to all of the pairs who took part, played in such good spirit and made it such an enjoyable day.
Quarter-Finals
E.Scoones & H.Young beat J.Tu & N.Caplin 15-2
B.Laws & P.Sathiyamoorthy beat N.Gregory & T.Gregory 15-5
E.Garfield-Osen & L.Brock beat Z.Wheale & A.Abrahams 15-10
K.Hird & R.Houlden beat A.Lumbard & R.Perrie 15-4
Semi-Finals
E.Scoones & H.Young beat B.Laws & P.Sathiyamoorthy 2-0 (12-3, 12-4)
K.Hird & R.Houlden beat E.Garfield-Osen & L.Brock 2-0 (12-5, 12-4)
Final
K.Hird & R.Houlden beat E.Scoones & H.Young 2-0 (12-6, 12-6)
Quarter-Finalists Plate
Semi-Finals
N.Gregory & T.Gregory beat J.Tu & N.Caplin 12-8
A.Lumbard & R.Perrie beat Z.Wheale & A.Abrahams 12-6
Final
A.Lumbard & R.Perrie beat N.Gregory & T.Gregory 12-6
Plate A - The "Dossi Dish"
Quarter-Finals
C.Cooley & C.Cooley beat O.Prankerd Smith & S.Nowinski 15-2
R.Wood & T.McCahon beat S.Jackman & J.Grant-Peterkin 15-10
E.Collinson & F.Prickett beat L.Valensise & J.Robb 15-6
E.Carter & Ar.Bhattacharya beat S-L.Yuen & M.Chinery 15-1
Semi-Finals
C.Cooley & C.Cooley beat R.Wood & T.McCahon 15-13
E.Carter & Ar.Bhattacharya beat E.Collinson & F.Prickett 15-11
Final
C.Cooley & C.Cooley beat E.Carter & Ar.Bhattacharya 15-12
3rd/4th
R.Wood & T.McCahon beat E.Collinson & F.Prickett 12-5
Plate A Quarter-Finalists Plate
Semi-Finals
S.Jackman & J.Grant-Peterkin beat O.Prankerd Smith & S.Nowinski 12-7
L.Valensise & J.Robb beat S-L.Yuen & M.Chinery 12-6
Final
L.Valensise & J.Robb beat S.Jackman & J.Grant-Peterkin 12-6
3rd/4th
O.Prankerd Smith & S.Nowinski beat S-L.Yuen & M.Chinery 12-5
Plate B
Quarter-Finals
M.Hodgkinson & J.Shelley beat A.Gammage & P.Boughton 12-4
S.Clifford-King & A.Bishop beat S.Howgate & D.Johnson 12-3
E.Gilbert & Ab.Bhattacharya beat C.Bowman & J.Lai 12-10
K.Smilovska & M.Davis beat A.Fitzpatrick & S.Brittan 12-0
Semi-Finals
S.Clifford-King & A.Bishop beat M.Hodgkinson & J.Shelley 15-11
K.Smilovska & M.Davis beat E.Gilbert & Ab.Bhattacharya 15-4
Final
K.Smilovska & M.Davis beat S.Clifford-King & A.Bishop 15-5
Plate B Quarter-Finalists Plate
Semi-Finals
A.Gammage & P.Boughton beat S.Howgate & D.Johnson 12-9
C.Bowman & J.Lai beat A.Fitzpatrick & S.Brittan 12-5
Final
A.Gammage & P.Boughton beat C.Bowman & J.Lai 12-10
3rd/4th
S.Howgate & D.Johnson beat A.Fitzpatrick & S.Brittan 12-1
