2003 Ladies Championships

Anthony Theodossi reports:

Well with Howard's new baby in the picture now, he was desperate to get someone to run the Ladies Championship and so it fell to me (a mistake he will not repeat). The tournament was played at the new Fives courts at the Westway. The tournament was to start at 11:00am and with only one lady there at 10:50 I was worried man, but thankfully everyone arrived at 10:55 and we had a total of six pairs taking part in the competition.

Round Robin Stage

Although there was only six pairs attending the tournament, there was quite a wide range of standards. The games were to be foot at eight with no setting. All pairs were to play one another with the four top scoring pairs going on to play in the semi-finals. Special mention must go to Emer and Rahila who kindly came to participate in the event, both of whom are pupils at Westway and were thrown into a tournament for the first time. Many of their games were closer than there scores reflect, with both players giving their all in each game. Well done and thank you to both of you.

Semi - finals

The semi-final was to be a single game up to twelve points with no setting. This year Kerry White partnered Fiona Barnes and managed to fend off some stiff competition from a first time pairing of Helen Toop and Dominique Redmond , Dominique being one of the tennis coaches at Westway, and an excellent new player to do so well after only playing the sport for two months. In the other semi-final the younger pair of Charlotta Cooley and Anita Ganguly took on Krystyna Vargas and Anneke Wells. With some excellent back court rallies displayed by Charlotta the pair won through to the final.Kerry White and Fiona Barnes beat Helen Toop and Dominic Redwood 12 - 4

Anita Ganguly and Charlotta Cooley beat Krystyna Vargas and Anneke Wells 12 - 5

Final

The final was a fast and spectacular match with the pairs playing best of three games, foot at twelve and again no setting. Anita and Charlotta took the first game with some excellent cut returns from Anita and again some wonderful back court play from Charlotta. But Kerry and Fiona soon found there feet again and ran away with a victory in the next two games.

Kerry White and Fiona Barnes beat Anita Ganguly and Charlotta Cooley

9-12, 12-8, 12-7

Well done and thank you to everyone who took part. Hopefully next year you will get someone running it who knows what they're doing!