The competition started with the Over 70s and Ladies Singles events, the Over 70s competition lost a player due to injury prior to the day leaving only 3 in this event which included Peter (Hutton), Denis (Brentwood Hard) & Dave (Writtle). With winner of the group going to win this event Dave & Denis both completed wins over Peter which left a final as Dave went 1 up before Denis took a 2-1 lead, Dave drawing back level before Denis took the 5th 11-5.
Our ladies competition had 6 entries with 2 groups of 3, in Group 1 Lin won both of her games but Francesca & Lucy both took a set before Lucy won 3 tight ends to go through in 2nd. The other group saw Evie beat Frances & Tina to win her group before Tina produced a comeback from 9-3 to clinch the 5th v Frances and finish 2nd. Both Lin/Evie won their semi finals in 3 ends before Evie took the ladies title winning in 3 v Lin to add another local league ladies title to her list after winning Chelmsford earlier in the year.
Our mixed doubles event followed which was probably the most open event to win of all the events with 6 pairings we again had 2 groups of 3. Group 1 saw Evie/Reece, Lucy/Liam & Tina/Alex with Lucy/Liam getting the first win of the group v Evie/Reece and showing everyone why they are last years mixed doubles champions as they also beat Tina/Alex. Evie/Reece combined to beat the Hutton duo finishing 2nd. Group 2 was again very open with Lin/Ian, Frances/Jamie & Francesca/Harry. Frances/Jamie performed well to beat Lin/Ian in 3 & Francesca/Harry in 4 to top their group while Lin/Ian got the better of Francesca/Harry to finish 2nd. Reece/Evie went 2 up in the semi final v Frances/Jamie before they got an end back but lost the 4th16-14 to miss out taking it to 5. Lucy/Liam remained unbeaten in the semi final winning in 3 over Lin/Ian which set up an all Buttsbury final. After playing each other in the group stage Evie/Reece went 2 up in the final before Lucy/Liam clinched a close 3rd before taking the 4th & 5th 11-7 to be Brentwood Mixed Doubles Champions for the 2nd year in a row!
With 6 tables in action from midday the Open Singles begun with 6 groups of 3, all winners into the last 8 and 2nd place finishers going into 2 groups of 3 for the other 2 to join the last 8. Group 1 was top seed Reece Seddon as he beat Dave Moles and Paul Mulley who got a set and went on to beat Dave to finish 2nd. Group 2 had one of the favourites Ian Wall in who defeated Anton Ranjit-Singh & Evie Knaapen before the youngster won the other game to finish 2nd. Another top seed Harry Chivers was in group 3 who won both of his games but teammate Malcolm Hemstock taking him to 4 with a couple of games to deuce before Malcolm defeated Richard Pond in 4 ends. Paul Brown the top seed in Group 4 who also progressed as winner of the group but both Denis Crapnell & Francesca Hart taking an end before Denis won the other game in the group. Group 5 & 6 both saw the top seed not win the group as Jamie Elliott won both of his games against Trevor Colin & Paul Aarons to win his group before Trevor come back from 1 down to win in 4 v Paul. Group 6 top seed Lin Roff was defeated by Neil Freeman & Lucy Elliott with one of the wins of the day, she narrowly missed out winning the group too as Neil won the 5th 11-6. Denis Crapnell & Evie Knaapen both won their play off groups to join the 6 group winners in the last 8. Open Singles last 8 & 4 were both best of 3 which produced some really close games, Jamie Elliott come back from 1 down to defeat Paul Brown & Denis Crapnell took the first 12-10 before Ian Wall come back to win the next 2 ends 11-8. Reece beat Evie & Harry beat Neil in 2 ends in the other 2 quarter finals. Reece/Jamie were at 1-1having a great match before Reece took the decider 11-7 and Harry defeated Ian 11-6, 11-7 to also progress to the final. The final as expected produced some great points and was played at a very high standard, Harry raced into a 2-0 lead before Reece showed a comeback coming back to 2-2 winning both on deuce before Harry showed his skill in the 5th as he won 11-1 to become Brentwood Open Singles Champion for 2024.
Our Over 60s competition had 9 entries with a group of 5 & 4 playing best of 3. Group A was completed without a match going to 3, Paul Brown top seed won his 4 group matches with Malcom taking him the closest 14-12, 12-10. Denis Crapnell recorded 3 wins to progress as runner up in a group which also had Paul Aarons of Mountnessing and Peter Moxham of Hutton. Malcolm recorded 2 wins & Paul 1 win. Group 2 was always going to be hard to call a winner and was a much tighter group with Trevor Colin, Lin Roff, Dave Moles & Paul Mulley. Star of the group was Dave Moles with 3 very impressive wins and the group was tight for 2nd with all players recording a win before Lin Roff went through on countback into the semi finals. Dave edged Denis out with 2 close ends while Paul defeated Lin as both Dave/Paul had reached the final without dropping an end. Top seed Paul Brown did win the final a best of 5 final in 3 but Dave pushed him all the way in 2 ends and a great performance in this event by both!
Our division 1 restricted singles event had 12 entries with 4 groups of 3 and was again a best of event. Richard Pond beat top seed Alex Ware in Group 1 and both players defeated Paul Aarons to go through. Group 2 was another group win for the in form Dave Moles as beat Oscar Hutt & Peter Moxham with Oscar winning the other game to go through in 2nd. Group 3 was the closest group of all with all games going to the deciding set, Oladapo winning both 3rd ends against Tina Hutchinson & Francesca Hart who was unlucky to lose both 3rd sets. An all junior group 4 saw Charlie Ware top the group with Charlie Gould winning 12-10 in the 2nd & 3rd v Lucy Elliott in the deciding game of the group. 3 of the quarter finals were finished in 2 sets as Richard defeated Tina, Charlie beat Oscar & Dave won v Charlie G. Alex v Oladapo in an all Hutton game went to 3 as Alex got the edge over his team mate 11-6 in the decider. Charlie Ware (Hutton) had a great semi final with Richard Pond (Brentwood) as both won by an 11-8 scoreline before the youngster clinched the decider 13-11 as Dave Moles had defeated Alex Ware to avoid a father and son final. Another very entertaining final with many great rallies but the experienced head of Dave Moles won the final to claim the 1st division Singles title.
Our final event was the open doubles with 12 pairings entering a good event and some close upsets and upsets along the way. Group 1 had Liam/Reece paired up setting up to try and win another local league doubles title, progressing through their group with wins over Frances/Richard & Oladapo/Denis with the later pair winning a close 3rd v Frances/Richard to go through in 2nd. Group 2 nearly had the biggest shock of the tournament occur as Ian Wall/Paul Brown were pegged back to 1-1 and edged a 13-11 decider against the ladies pairing of Tina/Lin. The Hutton pairing of Alex/Peter lost out to Ian/Paul but did get the better of the ladies pairing to go through in 2nd. Harry/Jamie were undefeated in their group beating Malcolm/Anton & 2 Charlie’s while Malcolm/Anton won the other game to progress in 2nd. Evie/Lucy fresh from their mixed doubles success formed well together in Group 4 beating Neil/Trevor of Billericay in 2 & club teammates Oscar & Francesca in 3. Neil/Trevor getting the other win in the group. Alex/Peter got the win of the quarter final as they beat the girls from Buttsbury in 3 tight ends, Reece/Liam, Harry/Jamie & Ian/Paul all won their games in straight sets. Alex/Peter had a great performance to get to the semi finals but did lose out to Liam/Reece in semi final 1 while Harry/Jamie won 11-2 in the first v Paul/Ian and just got through the longest game of the tournament in the 2nd 21-19 to set up a final with top seeds. The open doubles final was a very exciting game and another high standard performance by both, youngsters Jamie/Harry getting the first set before Reece/Liam come back to win the 2ndcomfortably. 3rd could of gone either was as the experienced due got it 12-10 before winning the 4th to become Open Doubles Champions in another area of the County together.
Our handicap event saw 24 entries which was our biggest event for numbers and was played best of 3 to 11 giving those players in division 1 a chance to play v some of the top seeds from the open competition and knock them out. We had 9 last 32 ties with the other players getting a bye in the first round. In this round there were wins for Lucy, Oscar, Charlie G, Alex, Jamie, Paul B, Paul A, Malcolm & Harry. The 3 standout games were Charlie G coming from 1 down to beat Tina, Paul Brown winning a great match v young Charlie Ware in the 3rd & Jamie coming from 1 down to defeat Oladapo. With all involved in this round Oscar beat teammate Lucy 12-10 in the decider, coach Alex beat junior of Hutton Charlie G, Harry produced a fine performance to beat Paul Mulley with a 10 deficit & Paul Brown (-7) winning 11-8, 11-9 in the last 2 ends v Paul Aarons (+4) also a great effort. Other wins for Evie, Dave, Jamie & Liam in this round all in 2 ends. The last 8 had some very close games with the tightest between Dave Moles & Jamie Elliott as all 3 games finished 11-9, Dave winning the decider. Oscar Hutt won the first v Alex who fighted back with winning 11-9, 12-10 in the other 2 ends. Evie Knaapen got past Harry Chivers & Liam Squirrell defeated Paul Brown both in 2 sets. Dave Moles having a great tournament edged out Alex Ware off similar handicaps 12-10, 11-8 as Liam Squirrell took the first 11-5 v Evie Knaapen who come back winning the second 11-3 before Liam clinched a tighter third end 11-9 to set up a final with Dave Moles. Liam a big fan of the handicap event playing Dave for the first time in the tournament which was our final game of the tournament and saw Dave play his 18th game of the day. Liam took the honours in this one winning 11-6, 11-7 to become Brentwood Handicap champion off -14 start
