Month: July 2025

Finals Day was well attended this year. Marjan Denis counted a crowd of around 40 after a set or so in the first two matches, but later, perhaps attracted by the Finals Day tea, the number of spectators rose considerably higher.

Men’s Singles Final

This was a closely fought Final between Stephen Cooke, the 3rd seed and Marcio Sugui the 2nd seed, the top seed, Olly Turner, having been beaten by Richard Keep in the Quarter Finals. The match was well umpired by Greg Lim, with four vintage line judges, policing every baseline and service line.

This match took so long that, while starting first, it finished within seconds of the Ladies’ Doubles which followed the Ladies’ Singles on grass court 1.

Marcio is a very consistent leftie, who takes advantage of leftie and other spins. He generally uses heavy topspin on both sides to ensure the ball goes in. He also has a deadly drop shot which he employs when he has moved his opponent wide and deep to a corner, angling it to the opposite side of the court. Quite often, this won Marcio the point. However, on a few occasions, Stephen’s long legs took him to the ball on time, and he hit a precise, short angled half volley to put the ball a few inches inside the side line, to which Marcio had no response.

Stephen has some stronger strokes, but made more mistakes, particularly in the second half of the first set. He also has a preference for the forehand and lost a handful of points running round Marcio’s leftie spin slice serves to his forehand and mishitting. But when presented a narrow opportunity to hit a winner he can put the ball on a sixpence 6 inches diagonally in from the corner. He aced Marcio a few times. Someone commented that Stephen often has a hangdog look, even when he has just won the point with a brilliant shot.

After a couple of games, light rain started, which made the court a little slippery, and the players came off. Sultan Gangji came on to assess the situation, while the umpire, Greg, checked on how wet the balls had become. The match continued after only a short delay.

This was an thrilling match for the spectators, particularly since the outcome wasn’t obvious, and there were nail biting moments for the supporters of either player.

Stephen started well with an early break, to go 3-1 up. But then, as Marcio got into the match, Stephen seemed to lose concentration, hitting balls long and making other errors, allowing the score to reach 4 all. The set reached 6 all for a set tie break (first to 7). During the tie break, Stephen seemed to sharpen up a lot, and took it fairly easily 7-2.

At this point one or two of the spectators were speculating that Stephen had to win the second set too, or was likely to lose in 3 sets. Stephen himself didn’t seem too concerned at any point.

Ladies’ Singles Final

Eléonore beat Alex Reyner in three sets in the Semi-Finals, though her loss of the first set can probably be ascribed to the fact that it had been her first match played on grass.

Becca played both singles and doubles in matches for Oxford university, but has since played her only singles in the West Heath tournament. She is steady and consistent and hard hitting, with a good tennis brain.

The umpire, Marjan Denis, later described Eléonore as the strongest female player she had seen during her time at West Heath.

Ladies’ Doubles Final

This took place between Marjan Denis & Barbara Thomas, the 2nd seed, and Alex Reyner & Becca Vaughan the top seeds. The title was won last year by Alex Reyner and Posy Frederick. The umpire was Alex Vallmajor.

Marjan seems to play tennis most days, often more than once. Barbara has recently returned to playing competitive matches. Alex and Becca play a lot of first team doubles, when they are available, and are an experienced partnership. Both have strong all round games and were thoroughly coached in doubles tactics as part of the Oxford University tennis team, though that was a few years ago.

Although Marjan and Barbara put up a good fight, it was not easy to stop Alex and Becca, who had the experience and shots to get in a position to hit winners or force errors. Marjan and Barbara won one game in the second set for a 6-0 6-1 victory to Alex and Becca.

Men’s Doubles Final

This was contested between Greg Lim & James Li-Tremble, the 2nd seeds, and Stephen Cooke & Logan Mair, the top seeds and title holders. The umpire was Joseph Rigal.

Greg and James are a new tournament pairing. Previously Greg has been playing with Sultan Gangji, but Sultan believed that Greg now stood a better chance of taking the doubles title with a younger partner. Greg doesn’t make many mistakes. James was the revelation at the tournament, with a good serve and capable of excellent forcing doubles play.

Stephen and Logan have been playing doubles together for some time. Of the two, Logan has the better, heavier serve, and contrary to my previous belief, Stephen assured me that Logan can place his serve accurately (in terms or direction) when directed by his partner. Stephen’s is excellent in terms of placement but not as penetrating as Logan’s.

Unfortunately, during the preceding prize giving, Sultan placed additional pressure on Stephen and Logan, and particularly Logan, by pointing out that that Stephen now had the opportunity to win the Triple Crown (singles, doubles and mixed) by taking the trifecta of Men’s Singles, Mixed Doubles and Men’s Doubles. But only if Logan and Stephen could take the Men’s Doubles.

Logan denied he felt under any more pressure than previously because of the public pronouncement, but it was notable that he, and to a lesser extent Stephen, did not play as well in the first set as they are capable of. Add to this that James played a blinder and Greg made few mistakes in the first set. This resulted in a 6-2 first set to Greg and James with at least two service breaks.

Stephen and Logan reset themselves at the beginning of the second set and got into their stride. They played much closer to their capability and the extra pressure on Greg and James led to the latter losing serve a few times, for a 6-2 second set to Stephen and Logan. But it wasn’t easy and the crowd was on tenterhooks on quite a few points which could have gone either way.

So all was dependent on the Champions Tie Break (first to 10 with a 2 point margin) – aptly named in this case. Anticipation in the crowd was at fever pitch levels at various points, especially at times of a mini-break.

At 4 all, Greg and James secured a mini-break to gain a 6-4 advantage, but Greg lost the 2nd point on his serve. The score then moved through 6 all, 7 all and 8 all. Stephen won his second service point to go 9-8 up, and he and Logan took the last point on the opponent’s serve to win the Championship at the first opportunity 2-6 6-2 [10-8].

Thus Stephen is now the first Triple Crown holder since 2015.

Stephen joins the following august body of six women and just two other men (though Cedric did win it 5 times):-

• 2015 – Cedric de la Chaise (and 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011)
• 2003 – Sofie Becaus
• 1997 – Julie Goodacre
• 1992 – Claire Willis
• 1989 – Penny Wild
• 1981 – Sultan Gangji
• 1978 – Jane Boyle
• 1959 – Jean Pateman

Note the achievements from over 40 years ago of two very active current members (highlighted).

The Mixed Doubles Champion only has records going back to since 1958.

Prizegiving and Tea

The initial Prizegiving was held around 16:30 before the Men’s Doubles Final, so that the super sandwiches for the Finals Day Tea did not start to curl!

Before the prizes for the Ladies and Men’s Singles were presented, Sultan outlined the plans for the Clubhouse which has served us all well for the last 60 years.

The guest celebrity presenting the trophies was Manual Vallmajor, representing the Monte Carlo Tennis Club. He compared the West Heath tournament favourably with their Monte Carlo Open (sshh)!

The complete set of finalists are in the front row of the photo of all those present at the bottom

There was also a separate presentation later for the Men’s Doubles.

Spectators

By the time the Men’s Singles Final had finished, there were considerably more spectators than before, queuing up to see the exciting tennis (particularly the men’s doubles, as it turned out). Those seated on benches had to move them forward to allow a second and third row to stand or sit on chairs or bar stools behind to get a good view of the Men’s Doubles.

If you count the number of people (including those hiding behind others with just some parts visible) in the photo at the bottom of this post, of those present by the prizegiving at the end of the Men’s Singles Final, it must have been around 60 altogether, which is surely a recent record.

Here is everyone, with the Finals Day winners and runners up in the front line.

Summary

The originals of all the photos used in these reports can be found here.

Signing off until next year.

The originally-unscheduled match today was the outstanding Men’s Singles Semi-final between the 6th seed Richard Keep, and the 3rd seed Stephen Cooke. Neither wanted to play the match on Thursday on a slightly wet hard court, so chose to defer until the Friday instead, to play it on grass.

The match was watched by around 15 spectators, some with distinct allegiances!

Both have very strong games, but Stephen is the more consistent and accurate. Richard has a heavier serve, though both players are used to the level of pace you get at men’s first team level. But Richard also put a few lower, shorter, balls into the net which Stephen would probably have whipped up over the net.

Richard played some good tennis in the first set, but made a few mistakes. And he just had to applaud a number of Stephen’s shots where Stephen only just reached a wide ball, but nevertheless managed to hit a precisely angled cross court winner to leave Richard stranded at the net. Stephen won the set 6-2.

The second set was a very different matter. The games went with serve until 2 all, then Stephen broke and held for a 4-2 lead. On Richard’s next service game he was under extreme pressure, facing a number of break points for a much shorter set, but obtained his own game point and closed it out. Stephen held his serve.

Due to yesterday’s rain, the second Men’s Singles Semi-final, between Richard Keep and Stephen Cooke, will be played on grass court 2 at 18:30 this evening (Friday evening).

As it had rained too much during the day, the grass was unplayable. The Mixed Doubles Final and one of the two Men’s Singles Semi-finals were played on the hard courts.

The Men’s Singles Semi-final on hard court four between Greg Lim and Marcio Sugui was a very close fought encounter. The court had both dry and wet patches but, apart from one occasion late on, did not seem to impede the movement of the players.

The standard of tennis was very high and there were few unforced errors. The spectators all marvelled at the typical depth of serves and groundstrokes, with fine margins. Both players had strong serves, and accurate placement, and were trying to move the other around court to get an opening for a winner, but without making an unforced error. If they achieved this aim, both players usually hit good crosscourt or down the line winners.

Marcio had an additional play, which was to drive Greg wide and deep, then play a drop shot to the other side of the court. At first Greg didn’t pick up the signs of drop shot preparation from Marcio, but later on wised up to it, though his percentage of success on such points was still low as Marcio would often be able to follow up with a lob over Greg’s head. But Greg won a few of these points later on. Greg didn’t have any obvious difficult with Marcio’s leftie spins.

In the first set Marcio started slowly, and Greg broke early for a 3-0 lead, but Marcio plugged away to bring the score to 4 games all, then took the set 6-4.

Mixed Doubles Final

The Mixed Doubles Final started on hard court 5, between Joe Rigal & Becca Vaughan, the 2nd seeds and Stephen Logan & Alex Reyner, top seeds and 2024 champions. This was a repeat of the 2024 final (won by Stephen & Alex 6-2 7-5).

Stephen and Alex were winning 5-2 when the match moved over to hard court 4 for the convenience of the numerous spectators/Gourmet Diners, after the conclusion of the Men’s Singles Semi-final.

Stephen and Alex had little difficulty in finishing off the last game of the first set on the new court, to take it 6-2.

For the rest of the match Joe and Becca were struggling to cope with the harder hitting of the title holders.

Joe and Becca did have their moments, but they had to work very hard for them, and there weren’t enough of them, with very few free points coming their way. Joe passed Alex down the line a few times. Becca hit some telling volleys. But the seemingly inevitable result was a 6-2 6-2 victory to Stephen and Alex.

Finalists and spectators …

Everyone mucks in …

Again, the weather was kind, despite earlier forecasts, and all matches were played on grass.

Brian Coffey provided tasty Mediterranean chicken, with assistance from his wife Lilian. Stephen and Sasha provided large quantities of delicious tiramisu for dessert.

The evening’s tennis kicked off with a pair of Ladies’ Singles Semi-finals.

By contrast, on centre court, it was a super ding dong battle between Eléonore Wauthier and Alex Reyner, the 2nd seed. Eléonore has been selected to play for the West Heath ladies’ first team, but couldn’t make it due to work commitments. She plays a lot of singles, mainly on surfaces other than grass, and hadn’t played a singles match on grass before.

It will be fascinating to see what happens on Finals Day when Eléonore plays Becca.

The remaining matches were the pair of Men’s Doubles Semi-finals.

Starting on grass court 3, but moving on to centre court after the first set, Sultan Gangji & Richard Keep, 4th seeds, played Greg Lim & James Li-Tremble, the 2nd seeds. Although Sultan played with Greg the previous year, Sultan had suggested to Greg that he stood a better chance of winning the Men’s Doubles against Stephen Cooke & Logan Mair with James instead. So Sultan and Greg were on opposite sides of the net in the Semi-finals.

Sultan and Richard were relying on Richard’s serve to give them a good leg up into the first set, but it wasn’t quite firing on all four cylinders, and the first set went straightforwardly 6-0 to Greg and James. However, the highlight of the second set was indeed Richard’s serve, in a game towards the end, with a number of break points, which Richard and Sultan held off to finally take the game to raucous cheers from the spectator.

Greg and James won the match 6-0 6-1. It remains to be seen how they get on against the other finalists (not giving anything away).

On grass court 1 the first set of other Men’s Doubles Semi-final was far more competitive. This was played at a high standard, with no quarter asked for or given. The unseeded pair Marcio Sugui & Alex Vallmajor took on the top seeds and 2024 champions Stephen Cooke and Logan Mair. Marcio and Alex relied on accurately placed ground strokes and lobs. Increasingly, as the match went on, Stephen and Logan assumed the net position and relied on reflex volleys to put the ball beyond the opponents. There were a number of superb points with players chasing down almost lost balls to sustain the rallies.

The first set reached 5 all, but Stephen and Logon broke and held to take it 7-5. The challengers were less successful in the second set, as Stephen and Logan hit more penetrating shots to reach the net together. Stephen and Logan took this set 6-2 for a 7-5 6-2 victory.

Although the weather has been good enough for grass court tennis this week, our luck may have run out with the grass, and the Mixed Doubles Final and Men’s Singles Semi-finals will likely have to be played on the hard courts, prior to Lesley’s professional Thai meal. However, if it is not too cold, the canopy in the photos above may still enable us to eat outdoors.

Again, the weather was kind, and the grass courts were in use.

Moira cooked a scrumptious lamb tagine, and Marjan provided red fruits and cream/creme fraiche as a dessert.

As you can see, there was nothing left on the plates once everyone had finished.

On Wednesday night, Brian will be serving Mediterranean chicken, followed by a Thai banquet from Lesley on Thursday night.

The Order of Play is here for all but Finals Day.

The second pair of Men’s Singles Quarter Finals was played, this time from the top of the draw.

On court 1, Alex Vallmajor, 8th seed, played Stephen Cooke, 3rd seed. Stephen has faster strokes than Alex, and on paper it should have been easier for him. But Alex doesn’t make many mistakes if he can get to the ball, his topspin tends to keep it in, and he can be accurate when given time to pass someone at the net. Alex’s father will be coming from Spain to provide support later in the week.

In the second set, matters proceeded more according to the seeding, though Stephen still had to be careful. Stephen took the second set 6-2 for a 7-6⁴ 6-2 victory and a Semi-final place.

On centre court, Richard Keep, 6th seed, took on Olly Turner, top seed and 2024 Champion, fancied to take the title again.

On grass court 3 there was a Ladies’ Doubles Quarter Final between mother and daughter team Elena & Carine Valarche, and the top seeds Alex Reyner & Becca Vaughan.

Elena and Carine play a decent game, but the power, consistency and accuracy of the top seeds restricted Elena and Carine to a single game, which came in the first set. Alex and Becca thus won 6-1 6-0.

The second set of matches of the evening were the two Mixed Doubles Semi-finals, in preparation for the Final on Thursday.

In the Semi on court 1, Greg Lim & Marjan Denis, 4th seeds, played Stephen Cooke & Alex Reyner, the top seeds and 2024 Champions. All 4 are big hitters. Alex has a very heavy serve, but it sometimes misfires. Greg hits everything with pace and is generally Mr Consistency. The match was close and it was difficult to assess who was on top, but the match went 6-4 6-4 to the title holders.

The Semi on centre court turned out to be a real humdinger – as tight as it gets. Sultan Gangji & Katie Baston, 3rd seeds, were aiming to upset Joe Rigal & Becca Vaughan, second seeds. Joe has a strong first serve, but if he thought he would be intimidating Katie with it, he had another think coming. Katie likes and laps up pace, and generally returns it with interest, not to mention that she can serve faster than a lot of the men. Becca plays very consistently and intelligently, and she and Joe retrieved a number of what looked like lost causes at times. Sultan played well, but sometimes couldn’t keep up with the pace on offer!

The first set went to a tie break, in which Sultan and Katie got the upper hand, to take it 7-4. But Joe and Becca dug in to take the second set, paving the way for a spectacular Champions (Match) Tie Break – first to 10 by a margin of two.

It looked like Sultan and Katie were going to win from 7-2 up (I think). But that just didn’t suit Joe and Becca, who beavered away to put on pressure and break serve, to even up the score. When matters reached 9 all, it could have been anyone’s match, but Joe and Becca took the last two point with a mini-break and hold, to beat the odds and earn the place in the Final 6⁹-7 6-4 [11-9].

The Order of Play is now published here for Monday to Thursday of this week and this link will be kept up to date.

The empty seats are those queuing for (or serving) seconds, of course.

There had been some debate about erecting the marquee, but this was decided against. However, Greg volunteered (perhaps under pressure) to put it up for the Tuesday Gourmet Dinner. And here it is, ready to keep out both rain and sun!

Perhaps unexpectedly, it hadn’t rained noticeably all day, so all matches could be played on grass.

The early match completion was between Marjan Denis and Elena Valarche. The match on the hard court was suspended previously because of rain. It resumed with Marjan leading 1 set to love, but Elena serving a break up at 3-2.

Marjan took a while to get back into the match, thinking too much about jellies setting or not for the Tuesday Gourmet Dinner she said, and Elena was able to capitalise with some good tennis to win the second set 6-4.

The first match out of the blocks of the evening session was a Ladies’ Doubles between Moira Duncan & Lesley South, and Marjan Denis & Barbara Thomas, the second seeds. Barbara hadn’t played competitive tennis for a while and was unsure how effective her tennis would be. Marjan was fresh from her win over Elena Valarche earlier, and Moira and Lesley knew they would have to use all their skill and craft to get anywhere. Lesley is very effective on angled shots and Moira has a good forehand.

In the first set, Moira and Lesley played well, and hit a number of winners. But they often left themselves open, and sometimes didn’t hit through the ball, enabling Marjan and Barbara to steal points. The challengers did not hold serve throughout the match, but Barbara was also broken twice in the first set, which Marjan and Barbara took 6-2.

In the third set, Marjan and Barbara took advantage of what they had learned in the first set. Moira did a lot of running, but couldn’t always return a decent ball. Lesley missed one or two as well, and the result was a 6-2 6-1 victory to Marjan and Barbara.

There also should have been three Men’s Singles matches.

George White was supposed to play Logan Mair in the last Round of 16 Men’s Singles match in the first match on centre court, and the winner would then go on to face Greg Lim. However, George found he could not get away from work, due to an urgent situation, and he had to scratch in favour of Logan. Shame – we were all expecting a very competitive match.

So the first Men’s Singles Quarter Final took place between Greg Lim, the 5th seed, and Logan Mair, the 4th seed. Logan has the better serve, but Greg has the more consistent, heavy ground strokes.

The first 4 games went with serve, Logan claiming he had break points on Greg’s serve but could not convert. In the next 4 games Logan’s serve was seriously threatened by Greg, with one game going to a number of deuces, on most of which Greg earned himself a break point with super play, but could not convert. In the last two games Logan’s level of motivation very clearly stepped up, and he broke Greg and held, to take the set 6-4.

The snag with playing Marcio is that he plays a lot competitively, and also has his coaching part 3, so is very knowledgeable too. Further, he is a leftie who takes full advantage of the different spins available to lefties. Dan has some solid strokes, but not the battle hardened consistency or depth of experience of Marcio.

The Order of Play is now published here for Monday to Thursday of this week and this link will be kept up to date.

The current version is below.

Monday’s delicious Gourmet Dinner will be Fish Pie from Rachael, with a dessert of Pavlova from Lara.

Michal is from Poland. To buy a home in London suitable for a family of 5 is almost impossible, but properties are far more affordable in Poland. So the family bought a home there some time ago. Sultan thanked him for his services to the club over the 18 years. There will be a separate presentation to Michal when he returns from holiday for a couple of weeks at the beginning of September.

Michal goes on holiday in a week, and will return for a couple of weeks at the beginning of September, before completing his move to Poland. In the meantime, Richard Keep will give lessons or provide a hitting partner until Michal returns. A new club coach will be appointed soon, to start soon after Michal leaves.

On Sunday, the grass courts were shut all day as they were too wet. But, despite the inauspicious weather forecast, a number of matches were played, and the tournament is now up to date apart from a Men’s Single Round of 16 match between two stragglers, and a Ladies’ Singles Quarter Final match that had to be suspended due to rain (see the Order of Play above.

The first match to be played was a Mixed Doubles Quarter Final between Orhun Güley & Carine Valarche and Stephen Cooke & Alex Reyner, the top seeds and 2024 Title Holders. Carine is usually very consistent and capable of running all day for anything, and Orhun played well in the previous match. In the event, Orhun was philosophical and pointed out that at least they got a game in the first set. Stephen and Alex won 6-1 6-0.

The last Mixed Doubles Quarter Final was played later on between Olly Turner & Jane Boyle, and Greg Lim & Marjan Denis. Jane can hit anything in reach with an angled shot, short ball or lob, and Olly can run all day, going for many shots which produces a some winners (mostly) and some errors. Greg has a strong game with few mistakes, and Marjan has a strong all round game. Marjan started on the left to take advantage of her good angled backhand

In the first set, Olly and Jane played well. They are both lefties, and Jane played on the left, ad court. Marjan and Greg did not do a lot wrong, but couldn’t always hold serve, so the set went 6-3 to Olly and Jane.

In the second set Marjan and Greg switched sides. Presumably by that time they were also more used to playing against two lefties. And Greg stopped being quite so gentle with Jane on the serve, placing it more in the corners, with a bit more pace. There was more pressure on Olly and Jane. As a result, Olly’s attempted winners didn’t go in quite as often as they needed to do. Marjan and Greg took the set 6-2.

The ensuing Champions tie break (first to 10 etc.) was relatively even until 7-5 to Greg and Marjan, who then won the rest of the points for a 3-6 6-2 [10-5] victory.

The other Men’s Singles Round of 16 match, between George White and Logan Mair, will be played on Monday at 6 pm.

On hard court 4, Steve Yoo & Kris Engley took on Stephen Cooke & Logan Mair, the top seeds and title holders. In terms of team tennis it was second vs first team.

The first set was competitive, with some good doubles tennis played. But Steve and Kris could not prevent Stephen and Logan breaking to win the first set 6-3.

When Stephen and Logan got to 5-0 in the second set, it looked like the match would finish quickly to pave the way for the next. However, Stephen was broken and the challengers won their next serve before the title holders could close it out for a 6-3 6-2 victory to Stephen and Logan.

As you can see, there were keen spectators for this match, though the number grew for subsequent matches after the speeches for Michal’s farewell tea.

Both the remaining Men’s Doubles Quarter Final matches were played on court 5, which made it more difficult for spectators on the grass courts to follow them.

Brothers Marc & Philip Reid took on 4th seeds Sultan Gangji & Richard Keep. Marc was injured in his Singles against Dan Angel on Tuesday, having to retire after losing the first set 6-3, but seemed much recovered for this match. Both brothers are tall with a good serve and good forehands. But it is not clear how much they play nowadays, apart from a few pre-tournament warm-up sessions. Not only are there family commitments, but, it may be a case of too much golf and not enough tennis!

The match was competitive, but the Reid brothers gave away too many points, particularly on their serves. This improved somewhat in the second set, but not enough to stop Sultan and Richard from winning 6-3 6-4.

The last of the Men’s Doubles Quarter Final was between Marcio Sugui & Alex Vallmajor, playing the 3rd seeds Olly Turner & Joe Rigal. Marcio and Alex are both super consistent. Marcio is a Brazilian leftie who plays a lot competitively. Alex’s tennis upbringing was on the clay courts of Spain. Joe and Olly are more the big hitter types, who will go for it and either hit the winner or lose the point then and there. You would expect the match to be tight.

The first set was very competitive, with some good doubles tennis played. Joe, a right hander, played on the left, and Olly, a lefty, played on the right. This counter-intuitive choice does facilitate interceptions on the forehand on both sides of the court when receiving. But it didn’t seem to give them the necessary edge as Marcio and Alex won 6-4 6-4, against the seeding.

Despite the earlier rain, a few matches were played or completed on the hard courts, watched by a few spectators.

The interrupted Mixed Doubles match from Thursday was completed today. The match had stopped for rain as Orhun Güley & Carine Valarche were a closely fought 7- 6⁸ set up against Mark Webb & Lesley South. On the resumption, on hard court 5, Orhun and Carine were able to step up the pressure, and took all but one game of the second set, taking the match 7- 6⁸ 6-1.

In another, seemingly regular, tournament match fixture, Elena Valarche played Marjan Denis in the Ladies’ Singles. As might be predicted, Elena started the match by coming to the net as often as possible. Marjan’s response was to hit deep lobs, which generally went in, but not always. After a while, Elena was more selective in when she came in, and did not get as close to the net as before. Many points were then decided by Marjan’s accuracy on the passing shot or lob.

The first set reached 2 games all, then Marjan won 3 games in a row to reach 5-2 up. Elena responded by holding and breaking to bring the score to 4-5 on Elena’s serve. Marjan broke for a 6-4 set win.

In the second set Elena was determined to do better and broke Marjan in the fifth game to go 3-2 up with her own serve to come. At that point the rain got too heavy to continue, and the match was abandoned for the day.

Just a reminder that there will be a formal “thank you” tea for Michal Forys, this Sunday, 20 July over tea at around 4.30 pm (whatever the weather).  Everyone welcome.

Michal has been coaching at West Heath since 2008, and he and his family are leaving soon to return to live in Poland.  He has made a great contribution to the club and the Men’s 1st team. He will be working until early next week and will return again for a couple of weeks at the beginning of September, after which a new club coach will be appointed.

From Monday, 28 July until the end of August, club member and Level 2 qualified coach, Richard Keep, will be available for lessons or as a hitting partner. You can contact him on 07453 954 288.  Sessions are £40 per hour.

Another reminder : put your name down on the Clubhouse list for the Gourmet Dinners Monday to Thursday next week, and for the Finals Day BBQ.

Wednesday 16 July

There were no matches played on Wednesday, due to the Ladies’ First Team match at home. The WH Ladies won by 14-10 points).

Jen Ananda-Rajan (Ehr), the former captain, came to support the team, bringing Jesse, her 7 week old baby, to see her team mates play. If Jen and Josh move back to London, after Josh graduates from theological college in Oxford, then Jesse could well end up as a third generation West Heath team player!!

Sultan Ganji & Katie Baston were given a walkover by Peter Davies & Emily Harrold in their Mixed Quarter Final. Although everyone was available at various times over the next weekend, none of them coincided.

Thursday 17 July

Two matches were played, but only one completed, due to the rain. Another match did not even get that far, again due to the rain.

Dan Angel played Joe Rigal, the 7th seed, in the Men’s Singles. The wet grass courts forced a retreat on to the hard courts, which reduced Joe’s expected advantage somewhat.

Battle hardened from his long standing friendship and tennis rivalry with Margaux Valarche, Dan plays a very consistent game, and can keep the ball in play well. Joe has a variety of strong shots, including the serve, which are particularly effective on grass, but less so on a hard court.

In the shock of the tournament so far, Dan managed to get everything back from Joe, often moonballing him with the return. Joe’s error rate increased as he tried to generate more pressure on Dan, but this resulted in errors. The final score was 6-1 6-2 to Dan, who now has to play Marcio in the Quarter Final.

Mark Webb & Lesley South played Orhun Güley & Carine Valarche in the first round of the Mixed Doubles. The first set must have been really tight as it went to a set tie break, won by Orhun & Carine 10-8 for a 7-6⁸ set (as they say nowadays).

Unfortunately the rain intervened and the match will have to be finished another day.

Geoff Isaacs and Eric Petsopoulos were also scheduled to play, but the rain intervened. Geoff provisionally booked a court at Westway, which is a long way away, but in the end scratched in favour of Eric.

Friday 18 July

By contrast, a full programme of 8 matches were played on Friday, of which 5 were Men’s Singles, and the other three were different flavours of doubles.

First off, Kris Engley played Richard Keep, the 6th seed and stand in coach for end of July and August. This was Men’s Second Team vs First Team. A lot of early matches are uneven, and end up with the loser getting no more than 1 game in total. This wasn’t quite like that, with Kris getting a couple of games in each set for a 6-2 6-2 victory to Richard.

The most competitive Men’s Singles of the day was undoubtedly between Blake Fillion and Olly Turner, the 2024 Club Singles Champion. Blake was a member a few years ago while on assignment to London, and has now returned.

In the Ladies Doubles, Susan Grossman & Sophia Melas (a new member this season), a scratch partnership, played Moira Duncan & Lesley South, a more settled pairing. Sophia was highly mobile on the court, and made few mistakes while Susan put away a number of balls at the net. Lesley made some of her trademark angled winners, and Moira hit consistently and did a fair bit of running to retrieve balls.

In the first set, Susan and Sophia delivered a shock by taking the lead and winning the set 6-4, much to the delight of Susan. This must have spurred Moira and Lesley to greater efforts in the second set, which they took 6-2. So everything was on the 10 point Champions Tie Break. Moira and Lesley seemed to be leading by a point half the time, but Susan and Sophia kept pulling them back. However, at the end of the tie break, Lesley pulled off two of her trademark angled shots to give the more experience pair the tie break at 10-7, and the match 4-6 6-2 [10-7].

The Men’s Doubles match between Romain Meunier &
Eric Petsopoulos and Greg Lim & James Li-Tremble, the second seeds and first team players, was hidden away on hard court 4 from the eager spectators. The challengers thought they were playing well, but the seeds on the other side of the net acted like a brick wall to repel incoming aggressive play, according to Eric. Greg and James won the match 6-1 6-0.

In the “return revenge” Mixed Doubles match of the day, Joe Rigal & Becca Vaughan, the second seed, played Dan Angel & Elena Valarche. The previous day (Thursday), Dan Angel had provided the first upset of Sultan’s seedings by beating Joe Rigal in the Men’s Singles.

This time, ably supported by Becca, Joe made no mistake, and made far fewer errors. Elena did her best at the net, and Dan placed some accurate shots, but Joe and Becca were not to be denied and took the match 6-2 6-1.

Don’t forget to sign up in the Clubhouse for the Gourmet Dinners next week, Monday to Thursday, plus the Finals Day BBQ on Saturday. Details in Monday’s match report or in an email sent to everyone.

After Monday’s marathon set of 8 matches, on Tuesday there were only 5 and a half matches played – 2 and a half x Men’s Singles, 2 x Men’s Doubles, and 1 x Mixed Doubles.

Firstly the Men’s Singles:-

The half match was between Marc Reid and Dan Angel. The first set went to Dan 6-3, but Marc got injured and had to retire.

During the day, Ashish Nair played Joe Rigal, the 7th seed. Ashish got one game in the first set, but that was all. Joe won 6-1 6-0.

In the evening, Kerry Karageorgis played Alex Vallmajor, the 8th seed. Kerry dragged himself away from his holiday where he had been receiving regular tennis coaching, just to play this and another tournament match, leaving his family to continue holidaying.

Alex was brought up to play tennis on the clay courts of Spain, so is super consistent and mainly uses topspin shots, with good placement – everyone’s nightmare in a hard court match. This match was on grass, however. Kerry fancied he could get a few games.

Most of the points worked out that Alex would slowly get the better of the ground stroke exchanges until either Kerry made a mistake, or Alex could manoeuvre him into a position where Alex hit a winner into the open court.

In a game near the end of the second set, Kerry served and put up stiff opposition. There were something like a dozen deuces, and Kerry had around 6 game points, but Alex smothered the server advantage when receiving on the Ad side, though it also took him some time to get both the Deuce and Ad points together.

And now the Men’s Doubles:-

In a late afternoon match, Matt Wasser & Dan Dalton fought against the 4th seeds, Sultan Gangji & Richard Keep.

Matt and Dan were somewhat overawed by playing a couple of first team players, and took some time to get used to the pace of the match. Neither were they serving or returning well in the first set. So Sultan and Richard took it 6-0.

But in the second set the lower ranked pair relaxed more and started to play their own tennis. Dan served much better and deservedly the pair won both his service games. Matt’s serve picked up at the end, but it was too late because of the earlier break. Sultan and Richard won the match 6-0 6-3.

Normally I would crop the photos, to get a better view of the players, but this one is such an appealing shot of the (well more than) centenarian Clubhouse in all its glory. It is worth pointing out that one of the players is obscuring the foxhole on the front grass bank leading to the walkway.

The faded green paint and the wonky and missing boards really make it, don’t you think?

The other Men’s Doubles was in the evening between Geoff Isaacs & Jason Yung, and the top seeds and 2024 Champions, Stephen Cooke & Logan Mair. Geoff’s long standing Men’s Doubles partner, Gideon Stone, isn’t able to partner Geoff any more, so Geoff teamed up with the enthusiastic, new and younger Brazilian player, Jason Yung.

Geoff and Jason played some very decent points. Geoff used his tactical nous to hit a few winners where neither Logan nor Stephen could reach. Jason threw himself about the court to try to retrieve the less reachable shots from Logan and Stephen. For one game in the first set and a couple of games in the second set, Geoff and Jason put together enough points to take the game, but the rest of the time, Stephen and Logan were generally in control, with Logan’s serve particularly difficult to guess (does he himself know where it is going?) Stephen and Logan won 6-1 6-2.

Another late match of the evening was the Mixed Doubles between Eugen Belin & Moira Duncan, and Olly Turner and Jane Boyle. Since Olly is the club singles champion, it took Eugene and Moira most of the first set to get used to Olly’s pace, reach and mobility, but they did take one game.

In the second set, Eugene’s serve sharpened up, and matters were even until 3 games all, to the excitement of the challengers. But then Olly and Jane broke, to give themselves a 6-1 6-3 victory.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Gourmet Dinners next week – more details in the match report for Saturday & Sunday.

There were eight matches played in total on the Monday evening – 4 x Men’s Singles, 2 x Men’s Doubles, and 2 x Mixed Doubles.

I was busy playing one of them and missed most of the action. But if anyone has any “after the event” match reports to contribute, please contact or talk to me.

In the 4 Men’s Singles matches, the loser got more than one game in only the one match:-

Luca Fioretti took on Olly Turner, last year’s champion. Luca must be a pretty decent player because he took three games in each set for a 6-3 6-3 victory to Olly.

Kris Engley played Pasha Barbashin. Kris showed a pretty solid game in his doubles with Steve Yoo against Peter Farrell and me, and he despatched Pasha 6-0 6-0.

In the last game, Joe hit a ball which was clearly going out, and Logan decided to play it to hit a winner, claiming he wasn’t sure it was going out. Further it emerged he had been smashing serves down, but, when Joe decided to stand further back, then served some much shorter slower, (overarm) drop-shot like serves to “ace” Joe. Joe did get one game in the second set on his own serve. Logan won 6-0 6-1.

In the Men’s Doubles the matches were only slightly more even:-

Eugene Belin & Paul O’Flynn played against Marcio Sugui & Alex Vallmajor. Eugene and Paul managed one game, in the second set, for a 6-0 6-1 victory to Marcio and Alex.

Romain Meunier & Eric Petsopoulos were matched against Dan Angel & Ashish Nair. It turned out that Romain and Eric were the stronger pair. Dan and Ashish managed only two games in the first set, and a single game in the second set, as Romain and Eric won 6-2 6-1.

In the Mixed Doubles:-

Jason Yung & Susan Grossman played against Joe Rigal & Becca Vaughan, the second seeds. From the little I saw, it was a fun game, with Jason flinging himself all over the court to try to get to the ball and win points. These points did add up to games, as Susan and Jason got one game in the first set, and two in the second set, for a 6-1 6-2 victory to Joe and Becca.

Barbara Thomas & Bruce Rigal (father of Joe Rigal in the picture above), were drawn against Emily Harrold & Peter Davies. Both sets of players were well capable of returning the ball well, but also of making mistakes. Bruce’s first serve has definitely improved from a few years ago, though more variation would make it more effective.

Emily’s husband and her 11 year old daughter (the other is 13) turned up to support her.

After a number of service breaks, the first set ended up in a tie break, which Bruce and Barbara took 7-5. Emily then served in the first game or the second set, but apparently thought we were still in the tie break, so, after one point, passed the balls over to the opponents. Once the situation was explained, Emily proceeded to win her game. Emily and Peter went on to take the set 6-1, with far fewer errors than in the first set.

The Champions tie break was a nervy affair, with Emily and Peter typically ahead by one or two points before Bruce and Barbara pulled them back. In the end, Peter and Emily took the tie break 9-7. By the time I remembered to take a photo, Emily had taken her family off to have dinner.

If you haven’t already put your name down on the sheet in the Club House for the Gourmet Dinners during the second week, from Monday 21 July – Thursday, 24 July, do so ASAP. before they fill up.

Men’s Singles Quarter final matches, most Semi final matches, and, on Thursday, the Mixed Doubles final, are played on these days from around 6 pm and dinner follows the end of play. We have space for 30 people each evening and we eat on tables outside the clubhouse, weather permitting.

Despite the soaring temperatures (slightly better on Sunday), a few matches were played over the weekend

On Saturday, in the Men’s Doubles, Peter Farrell & Peter Davies played Steve Yoo & Kris Engley. While both Peters play a lot of singles, Steve & Kris are regular men’s second team players and are more match tight and experienced in competitive men’s doubles matches, as well as having stronger games.

While Steve & Kris held all their serves, the Peters struggled to induce errors and hit winners on their own service games. It sometimes happened, but not often enough. Peter Farrell held his service in the first set, and Peter Davies held his in the second set, for a 6-1 6-1 victory to Steve and Kris.

Braving the early day heat in the Men’s Singles, Orhun Güley and Kerry Karageorgis battled it out. Orhun hits a decent ball, and so does Kerry, though he was carrying an arm injury a couple of months ago. He must have recovered from that though. Kerry also plays a lot of singles.

Kerry summarised the match with a terse “I beat Orhun 6-3 6-2. Not much to report”. I would assume he broke Orhun once or twice in the first set, and a couple of times in the second set!

On Sunday, Matt Wasser (our new Webmaster) took on Alex Vallmajor, the 8th seed, in the Men’s Singles.

Matt summarised the game as follows:-

“There were many close games, but at the end of the day Alex’s very accurate placement, net play and passing shots won the day [and the games almost all of the time – Peter]! We played on the hard court and I could not find a way to attack him. Glad to have experienced this masterclass though! Alex won 6-1, 6-0”

On Sunday evening, Fred Davidson and Peter Davies played a Men’s Singles. Fred’s general approach was to try to avoid all errors, and chase down everything, while Peter tried to manoeuvre Fred out of position to hit winners.

In the first set Fred’s serve wasn’t working properly, and he got broken a lot, though he also broke Peter. He tried a few underarm serves, but these just went straight in the net. Peter took the first set 6-3.

In second and third sets, Fred’s heavy first serve started to work better, though Peter returned almost all of them to the back of the court apart from a few in the very corners (I wasn’t always as alert as I should have been!) On the ground strokes, Fred reverted to safety moonballs most of the time, and Peter’s timing wasn’t good enough to take advantage on the high bouncing balls, so he kept making errors when attempting to put on pressure or hit winners. The net result was a 3-6 6-5 6-3 victory to Fred after a marathon 2 plus hours three setter.

(Sorry, I forgot to take a picture, I was so hot, sweaty and tired afterwards. But that doesn’t mean anyone else has an excuse to forget to take a picture!!!)

In the Men’s Doubles, Kerry Karageorgis & Orhun Güley played the brothers Marc & Philip Reid.

Marc and Philip Reid won, but I don’t know the score yet.

Also in the Men’s Doubles, the father and son pair of Joe & Harry Smouha played Olly Turner & Joe Rigal, the third seeds. Both of these have played multiple times for the men’s first team this summer.

I know little about the standard of tennis of the Smouhas , but the result was 6-1 6-1 to Olly and Joe.

The tournament proper has started, and some matches have been played.

On Thursday, the preliminary (“qualifying”) round of the Men’s Singles was played between Harry Smouha and Paul O’Flynn. The first set went to Paul 6-3, but Harry more than got his own back in the second set, in which he allowed Paul only one game.

Singles matches are supposed to be 3 tie break sets, but Harry and Paul didn’t seem to know this and must have agreed to play a Champions Tie Break as the decider instead. Somehow, Paul must have reversed the momentum from the second set and roared ahead, taking the tie break [10-1] and the match 6-3 1-6 [10-1]

Another Men’s Singles match on Friday was between Adi Bhagwat and Stephen Cooke, the third seed. Although there was a significant discrepancy between their single ratings, it was a fun match, and there were a number of long, competitive rallies between the pair. Although Stephen’s pace and consistency won out, Adi got one game in each set, for a 6-1 6-1 victory to Stephen.

In the evening, Jason Yung took on Richard Keep, the sixth seed. Jason is a new member this year who lives locally, and is very keen on his tennis. However, Richard is a strong singles player, as well as a solid men’s first team player when his acting commitments allow. Jason won one game in the first set and two in the second set for a 6-1 6-2 victory to Richard.