Category: 2025 Tournament

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.