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.
The spectators weren’t the only ones awaiting dinner after the tennis, though Jean, the dog, was allowed an early carrot or two. He belongs to Barbara’s niece, who occasionally has to abandon him to Barbara at short notice, when work requires her to be away. Jean specialises in two legged begging.
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.
Alex broke at a point when Stephen was overhitting the ball out somewhat, much to the concern of Sasha, his (life) partner. However, Alex could also not guarantee to hold his own serve, and the first set reach 6 all for a tie break, which Stephen won 7-4.
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.
Richard was fired up for this one, and wasn’t making many mistakes. Olly hits out, but isn’t quite so consistent. It was pretty close, but Richard tended to have the edge. So it wasn’t to be for Olly, and Richard took the match 6-4 6-4 for a place in the Semi-finals against Stephen.
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].
