West Heath LTC

Due to the requirement to fit in the Mixed Doubles Final deferred from an increasing wet Thursday, the Singles started early, at 1:30 pm. The crowd at this time was pretty sparse, but the seating soon filled up, prompting a two tier approach.

Men’s Singles Final

This was contested between the top seed and 2023 runner up, Logan Mair, and the up and coming fourth seed, Olly Turner and umpired by Greg Lim.

Logan plays for the first team, and has a very heavy first serve – if it goes in. His second serve is usually quite reliable. He is also in his 50s now, so probably twice the age of Olly. Olly is a leftie, normally plays for the second team, though he has also represented the first team, and apparently plays Joseph Rigal frequently at singles – including beating him in a Men’s Singles semifinal starting Thursday and finishing Friday. Olly has a decent serve too, more consistent than Logan, but not as heavy. In the final, he also showed a superb forehand, which could be directed out of Logan’s reach, and very fast retrieval of balls which would beat most people.

Olly started slowly, and his serve and forehand weren’t really working well. It looked like Logan might run away with the match. Logan got to 5-2 up, but then let Olly in to break, though Logan then won the set 6-4.

But in the second set, Olly’s game really started working well, particularly his forehand. Logan didn’t adapt immediately and was still too many aiming balls at Olly’s forehand. At a certain point, Logan switched to peppering Olly’s backhand instead, but Olly moved further to the right to negate the impact of this. In theory, this opened up the far ad side of the court to Logan hitting outright winners, but in practice, Logan wasn’t able to hit with enough pace and accuracy to prevent Olly from getting to the ball and hitting a winning forehand. At the net, Logan also seemed to find himself taking a number of balls behind him, and not many of these came off. Olly took the second set 6-2.

In the third set, Olly served first. Both players played to a good level, with no service breaks until 5 games all. Olly then held serve, but Logan was always under pressure on his service games, and, on the sixth of these, Olly broke to take the match 4-6 6-2 7-5.

Thus, a second-team player has won the West Heath Men’s Singles event! Does this signal a changing of the guard somewhat?

Ladies’ Singles Final

[Updated 9:30 Monday]

This was contested between Rebecca Vaughan, the second seed and 2021 title holder, and Alex Reyner, the top seed, and umpired by Marjan Denis. Alex has a heavy serve, and some very good groundstrokes, but they aren’t always that consistent under pressure. Rebecca has a good serve, and other shots, but they are slightly less heavy than those of Alex. However, Rebecca is also very consistent, and runs for everything. In this particular final she played extremely well and showed great determination.

Alex didn’t get going properly in the first set. Rebecca broke immediately and went 2-0 up. Rebecca took the first set 6-2.

In the second set, Alex stepped up her game and hit more consistently. Her heavier weight of shot eventually allowed her to get the better of Rebecca – but most of the set went with serve, and it was not until towards the end of the set that Alex broke to take it 6-4.

In the third set, Rebecca started hitting the ball a little harder, going for it, without making a significant number of mistakes, thus putting more pressure on Alex. In particular Rebecca started hitting very strong two-handed backhands, which most of us hadn’t seen much of before, not to mention cracking down the serves. Rebecca thus had the edge in the third set and won it 6-4 to take the match 6-2 4-6 6-4.

There was no doubt Rebecca was fired up to win the match, while keeping her cool against a tough opponent, if that is not a contradiction in terms!! And making very few mistakes at the same time.

The Men’s and Ladies’ Singles events finished almost at the same time.

Men’s Doubles Final

In my opinion, Logan played better than in the singles, though playing with Stephen presumably allowed him to go for more risky shots than in the singles – and singles and doubles are two different games.

Although there was some excellent doubles play from both sides, Sultan and Greg were always threatened on their service games, and could not hold consistently. Stephen and Logan won 6-2 6-2.

Compared to the Ladies’ Doubles Final, the Men’s Doubles finished relatively quickly, allowing more of the spectators to watch then end of the Ladies’ Doubles.

Ladies’ Doubles Final

By common consent, this was the most exciting of the Finals and an excellent showcase of the high standard of women’s first team tennis at West Heath. It was played between the top seeds, Alex Reyner & Posy Frederick, and the 2nd seeds, Rebecca Vaughan & Katie Baston, and umpired by Barbara Thomas.

This was the second final in which Alex and Rebecca were competing against each other, and their games are described in the Ladies’ Singles Final write up above. Posy is very consistent, tactically thoughtful, and tends to throw herself around a grass court to ensue she gets to a ball if possible. Katie has some heavy shots but is perhaps less consistent.

In the first set, after some excellent tennis, Alex and Posy gained the upper hand, taking it 6-3.

The second set was much tighter, and went to a similarly narrow set tie break (first to 7), which Rebecca and Katie took 8-6, thus setting up a deciding Match Tie Break (first to 10).

In the match tie break, Rebecca and Katie roared into a 6-1 lead, but Alex and Posy dug in to take 9 points in a row to win it 10-6 and take the title.

This was a really high quality doubles match to watch.

So that was one win apiece to Alex and Rebecca.

Mixed Doubles Final

As a result of the rain on Thursday, the Mixed Doubles Final was deferred until Finals Day, after tea and the presentation of trophies. It was contested between Joseph Rigal & Rebecca Vaughan and Stephen Cooke & Alex Reyner, and umpired by Greg Lim.

As a fast improving player, Joseph excelled his ranking in both the Men’s Singles and the Mixed Doubles. He has an excellent serve and ground strokes and good court coverage. Rebecca played very solidly during her 3 Finals Day finals, rarely making mistakes, with excellent retrieving and using heavier shots without making too many unforced errors.

Stephen did not play in the singles, as he has a habit of getting injured during the tournament if he plays too much tennis, so he saved himself for the Men’s and Mixed Doubles events. As is predictable from his 6’3″ height, he has a big serve, and a huge presence at the net. Stephen is generally very consistent and creative in his shots. Alex, also tall for a woman, similarly has a big serve and ground strokes.

This was another high quality final, with some excellent rallies, extensive retrieving, and a number of winners hit.

In the first set, Stephen and Alex were dominant and Joseph and Rebecca managed only two games, for Stephen and Alex to take the set 6-2.

In the second set, Joseph and Rebecca raised their game to take the score to 5 all. With the tension rising on both sides, Joseph and Rebecca were broken to give a 6-2 7-4 victory to the top seeds.

Players

Among most who saw both men’s and ladies’ events, there was a general consensus that Rebecca Vaughan was player of the tournament, playing out of her skin in all three events while making very few unforced errors, with excellent retrieving and stepping up the pace of shots where necessary. She and Alex Reyner contested all three events, with Rebecca winning the Singles, but Alex taking both Doubles titles.

Olly Turner, a men’s second team player, took the Men’s Singles title with an excellent Singles performance, once he got going. It isn’t often a second team player takes the Men’s Singles title.

Joseph Rigal is probably the most improved player, taking out Richard Keep, the second seed, in the Men’s Singles, and Sultan Gangji & Jen Ehr, the 4th seeds, in the Mixed.

Addresses, Presentation of Trophies and Finals Day Tea

The two doubles finals were immediately followed by addresses from our president Sultan Gangji, and our chair Moira Duncan.

After the updates from both, Moira presented Sultan with a trophy commemorating his tenure as club captain since 1974. It also makes mention of his tenure as president since 2002, and his 9 Men’s Singles titles (76, 78-81, 83-84, 87, 90).

In turn, Sultan presented Moira with a glass trophy to commemorate her 25 years as club chair since she became the first woman West Heath club chair in 1999, and with life membership for her extensive services to the club during that time.

An alumnus of West Heath is often invited to present the trophies, and this year it was Phil Hardy, who won a consecutive series of seven titles from 1974 to 1981. These consisted of two Mixed Doubles, with Miss H Thomas and Jane Boyle, followed by seven Men’s Doubles with Sultan Gangji.

The winners and runners up were then presented with their trophies (or a suitable substitute in the case of the runners up!). Except for the Mixed Doubles trophy presentation, of course, as this had yet to be played. See the bottom of this post for a larger picture.

Following this, everyone had tea.

Evening BBQ and Celebration

To celebrate Sultan Gangji’s 50 years as Club Captain, there was some entertainment from Abi Taub and from Peter Davies.

Karton The Cat

There have been a number of questions on Karton – mostly “what is his name?”

Apparently cats can be trained, but only for one thing at a time. Karton sometimes comes on to the grass courts, and can safely be removed by picking him up and putting him on the spectator area, or the path down to the gate. Hopefully he will gradually get the hint that it isn’t sensible to go on to a tennis court when humans are doing funny things with bats and balls on them, though tennis courts are fair game at other times.

All photos used in the match reports can be found here.

Thank you to Sultan for the organisation and copious supplies of Whispering Angel Rose. Also to Marjan, the joint tournament referee. Thank you to the Gourmet Chefs, those who provided Finals Day Teas, the players, spectators, and everyone else involved.

That is it for now, for the 2024 West Heath Tournament. It has been an excellent tournament, with some super tennis, not to mention Gourmet Dinners and Final’s Day teas. And the overarching theme of Sultan’s 50 years as Club Captain.

Please note that the Finals Day singles finals matches start at 13:30 to accommodate the delayed Mixed Doubles matches from Thursday. Tea and prize presentations are forecast to be 16:00 and the Mixed Doubles Final will be played aro0und 16:30.

The complete schedule for Finals Day Saturday can be found here.

The draws leading up to the Finals Day matches are here.

The two unfinished matches were resumed at 18:30 in the evening. See Thursday 25 July match report for the play so far.

On court 1, Alex Vallmajor resumed serving at 3-4 down against Logan Mair, who won the first set 7-6^7-5. There had been no breaks of service in the match so far.

Alex believed he was at a disadvantage in having to serve cold to resume, while Logan had a game to warm up his play before having to serve. But Alex held his serve to level the second set at 4 games all. Logan held his next service game to go 5-4 up, then put a lot of pressure on Alex, who could not maintain his record on serve, and was finally broken to give Logan the set 6-4 and the match 7-6^7-5 6-4.

At first, both Alex and one of the bystanders (who shall remain nameless) were confused, but it was clear to Logan and others not directly on the court, that Logan had just won the match, having served only the once.

On court 2 the completion of the match between 4th seed, Olly Turner, and 7th seed Joseph Rigal, took considerably longer. Joseph had won the first set 6-2, with Olly taking the second set 6-4. Joseph now had to serve 0-3 down in the final set.

On the resumption Olly was playing very consistently. He tended to lure Joseph into the net, and Joseph could not find the winning approach shot off a short ball, then was not able to stop Olly from passing him. But Olly typically came to the net with approach shots which put Joseph under a lot of pressure, with Olly finding the winning volley most of the time. Joseph was, however, hitting a number of first service winners. But Joseph didn’t seem to be playing quite as well as he had in the previous round, perhaps because Olly was able to apply more pressure.

Joseph won his serve. Matters proceeded on serve until Joseph found himself serving 2-5 down, winning the game. Joseph then broke back to 5 all. He was again under pressure on his next service game, with Olly having match points, but Olly could not convert.

In the set tie break (first to 7), mini-breaks were traded but serving on serve at 4-5 down, Joseph lost his two service points to give Olly the set 7-6^7-4.

Although the weather forecast showed the club should have been clear of rain by 4 pm, it was intermittently drizzling, and play had to be interrupted at one point. Then by 7:30 pm it rained more heavily, so neither of the schedules Men’s Singles semifinals matches could be completed, both being abandoned roughly midway through the second set.

Both Men’s Singles semifinals will be completed at 18:00 on Friday. The Mixed Doubles final will be played on Saturday, at Final’s Day, after the Men’s and Ladies’ Doubles finals have completed.

The plan for the remaining matches can be found here.

The current state of the draws is here.

In addition to the indoor socialising that went on as a result of the rain, Margaux Valarche provided musical entertainment on her saxophone, with excellent performances of Harlem Nocturne (1939, Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers) and Swingin’ Shepherd Blues (1957, Moe Koeffman). Being Canadian Bruce Rigal would have added it was originally entitled ‘Blues a la Canadiana’, but the title was changed for the first recording by Moe Koeffman on the flute.

In the Men’s Singles semifinal on court 1, the 3rd seed, Alex Vallmajor, was hoping to upset the top seed and 2023 losing finalist Logan Mair. Alex is “Mister consistent” with excellent court coverage and rarely misses with his trademark topspin shots. However, he doesn’t have the pace of Logan, who is more prepared to take risks when it doesn’t matter so much.

Logan missed quite a few first serves, but both players won all their service games played on the Thursday. The first set was decided by a tie break, which Logan narrowly took 7-5.

Logan reached 4-3 up on his serve in the second set before rain stopped play. Alex thinks the disruption places him at a small disadvantage. Alex has to hold immediately, but Logan gets a chance to get into the match because he has a “free game” which Alex is expected to win, before Logan has to serve.

We shall see. The situation is shaping up to be reminiscent of Stephan Edberg’s three set 1991 loss at Wimbledon in one epic match against Stich. Edberg, the reigning champion, lost 6-4 6-7 6-7 6-7 in three consecutive tie breaks without ever losing any of his 23 service games! The only break in the match was when Edberg broke Stich in the 5th game of the first set.

In the semifinal on court 2, Joseph Rigal is the 7th seed (having taken out Richard Keep, the second seed) and Ollie Turner is the 4th seed.

This match had more ups and downs than the court 1 semifinal. Both these guys are hard hitters and there had been a lot of speculation on the possible result. Joseph was really fired up in the first set, and took it 6-2. But he appeared to falter a little in the second set, with Ollie forced to step up his game. Ollie took it 6-4. The momentum was with Ollie, who capitalised by breaking Joseph for a 3-0 lead before the match was called off.

In this case, the delay clearly favours Joseph, who will come into the resumption fresh, and having regrouped, and there is only a single break in it at this point. But Joseph has to deliver immediately as he resumes on serve. A fascinating situation!

The order of play for Thursday (including Mixed Doubles final) and Finals Day on Saturday can be found here.

Thursday it is raining and expected to be drizzly until 4 pm, and then clear. But there may not be time for the grass to dry out enough to be playable for the Men’s Doubles semifinals and Mixed Doubles finals tonight. So these may have to be played on the hard courts.

Rachael Gangji prepared a super Gourmet fish pie main course, and Lara provided strawberry pavlova for dessert. Most people went back for seconds.

Meanwhile, the cat who has adopted us was on sentry duty around the perimeter of the club to keep the unwanted foxes away. Later, he came to greet us and be stroked in return for his service to the club members.

There were 3 matches played on Wednesday

• 18:00 LS SF Alex Reyner (1) vs Marjan Denis
• 18:00 MS QF Logan Mair (1) vs David Hirst (8)
• 19:15 MD SF Stephen Cooke & Logan Mair (1) vs Olly Turner & Joseph Rigal (3)

There seems to be no clear consensus on who will triumph in the Men’s Singles final on Saturday, with all the semi-finalists receiving support. Hopefully, this is a taste of tantalising Men’s Singles matches to come on Thursday and Saturday.

The highlight of the evening for the spectators was undoubtedly the Men’s Doubles semifinal match between top seeds and 2023 champions, Stephen Cooke & Logan Mair, and the third seeds Olly Turner & Joseph Rigal. Olly and Joseph were hopeful, but Stephen is very difficult to get past, as he is 6’3″ tall, has long arms in proportion and excellent anticipation, movement and strokes. Stephen can also hit strong and high first serves. Logan is consistent and can whack a first serve down to which the return is difficult to control. Logan can also employ tricky top slice serves. If he misses on the first serve, he can get a topspin second serve in which doesn’t give much away. Joseph and Olly also have heavy serves and shots, but can’t quite retrieve and respond to pace in the same way as Stephen in particular.

The first set generally went with serve, but Joseph and Olly could not prevent being broken, to give Stephen and Logan the first set 6-3.

The second set was much closer, and reached 5 games all. If my memory is correct, Joseph and Olly then threatened Logan’s serve, but Logan held on, as did Joseph and Olly, setting up a set tie break (normal first to 7 tie break). There were a few mini-breaks in the tie break, but these were always recovered until matters reach 7 all, when Stephen and Logan pulled out two points in a row to take the match 6-3 7-6^9-7.

Last night, the Gourmet Dinner was delicious lamb tagine prepared by Moira Duncan, with some help from lamb slicers Greg Lim and Marjan Denis. Katie Baston contributed tasty home made cheesecake and some individual posset desserts.

The order of play for the rest of the week can be found here.

There were 6 matches played in total.

• 14:00 LD QF Liz Hill & Julia Abbot vs Margaux & Elena Valarche (3)
• 18:00 MS QF Greg Lim (5) vs Olly Turner (4)
• 18:00 MS QF Philip Reid (6) vs Alex Valmajor (3)
• 18:30 LD SF Becca Vaughan & Katie Baston (2) vs the winners of the 14:00 match!
• 19:15 MS QF Joseph Rigal (7) vs Richard Keep (2)
• 19:15 MXD QF Jasper Tresidder & Margaux Valarche (6) vs Alex Vallmajor & Katie Baston (3)

The entry for the Ladies Singles and Doubles events has been disappointing this year. Certainly, a lot of ladies who work tend to be very busy around this time, perhaps due to the holiday absences of others. But there was certainly room for another 2 entries in the Ladies’ Doubles, and 3 in the Ladies’ Singles before anyone would have had to play more than 1 preliminary match (QF or before) in advance of the Gourmet Dinner evenings and Finals Day matches. Some ladies, who did not enter these events, have commented that, had they known the draw would be so sparse, they would have entered as the extra match load would have been easy enough to schedule. Next year maybe!!

The first match was played early afternoon and was a Ladies Doubles 1st round match (quarter final) between Liz Hill & Julia Abbot, and Margaux & Elena Valarche, the third seeds.

Julia Abbot was still a little hung over from the drinking on her last evening of the week spent cruising around Norway, ending with breakfast on the ship that very day! Margaux was fitting the match in between regular teaching slots after a weekend away.

Julia and Liz were in it more for the fun and experience, and to avoid the double bagel if possible, but the Valarches’ street cred would have been considerably diminished had they lost, so it was altogether more serious for them. Julia reckoned she did fewer (if any!) double faults compared to the opposition, but Julia’s good serves had less impact than Margaux’s. One problem Liz and Julia had was that they would hit the ball seemingly out of reach of their opponents only to find Margaux got to it with plenty of time to line up a very awkward response, if not an outright winner. Elena apparently spent most of her time at the net, winning points but making the occasional volley error.

Julia and Liz did get to deuce at one point, but couldn’t convert it to a game. The result was the dreaded double bagel, won by the third seeds. But, as Julia pointed out, at least she and Liz warmed up Elena and Margaux for the next round, to be played that evening.

Elena in particular was cock-a-hoop with the win.

As there was no one else there, the match photo had to be a selfie. However, even Elena, ever enthusiastic about photos of jumping, couldn’t work out how to take a selfie of all 4 players jumping, so Liz and Julia declined. I’ve never seen Elena so high!!!!

Three out of four Men’s Singles quarter finals were played in the evening, with two of them starting out at 6 pm.

On court 2, the somewhat rusty sixth seed, Philip Reid, was drawn against the third seed, Alex Vallmajor. Philip took some time to get into the match, and to get his heavy serve and ground strokes working, while Alex played his normal consistent topspin game. The first set was somewhat uneven, with Alex taking it 6-1.

Following on from Philip vs Alex, the next match on court 1 was between Joseph Rigal, the 7th seed, and Richard Keep, the 2nd seed. Richard plays in first team matches and sessions with other team players when he is around.

According to his dad, Bruce, Joseph didn’t play much tennis during the 4 years he was at university in Chicago. However, on his return to the UK, Joseph wanted to make up for lost time, and plays at least 8 days each week, judging from the times I go to either West Heath or the Cumberland and he is invariably there – or so it seems. Not only that but his jobs have involved watching a significant quantity of tennis by top players. So it is perhaps to be expected that Joseph is improving significantly over time.

This was another match between two big hitters. Joseph goes for it on most shots. Richard serves big, though sometimes misses, then capitalises if he needs to. Some double faults by Richard allowed Joseph to break in the first set, whereupon Joseph kept his cool, winning the first set 6-4.

One big difference from previous times and matches is that, although Joseph did double fault and make mistakes in this match, he did not allow it to disturb his concentration for the next point, on which he was also more confident that his improved level of play should give him an edge.

If you were wondering how both players ended up looking so fresh, be aware that the photo was taken at the beginning of the match, not the end!

The quarter final wins by both Joseph and Olly guarantee that there will be at least one second team player in the Men’s Singles Final on Saturday, as they now play each other in the semis.

The match on court 3 was the first of the Ladies’ Doubles semifinals between Margaux & Elena Valarche, third seeds and winners of the 2 pm quarter final, and Becca Vaughan & Katie Baston.

At the far end, Becca kicked off serving into an awkward sun, and was broken, with Margaux and Elena holding serve. It was very clearly easier to win points at the near end of the court. Elena adopted her usual position at the net, while Margaux made it look easy to cover the rest of the court. Becca and Katie hit the ball hard and tried not to make errors. But in the first set, Elena and Margaux were in pole position and stayed there until they took it 6-4.

Becca and Katie made fewer errors in the second set, to develop some momentum, while the Valarches could not avoid errors. Becca and Katie won the set 6-1.

In the match tie break the points were relatively even until around 5-4 to Becca and Katie. But they then put on the pressure and zoomed ahead to take it 10-6 to win the match 4-6 6-2 [10-6].

Waiting for the match involving Margaux and Katie, the last match to kick off was a Mixed Doubles quarter final between 6th seeds, Jasper Tresidder & Margaux Valarche, and 3rd seeds, Alex Vallmajor & Katie Baston.

Jasper and Margaux are school friends who have played together a lot before and understand each other’s game well. When Jasper is playing consistently he has a booming serve, and good groundstrokes, with an effective drop shot, and prefers to play a flashy hot dog shot if possible. Alex and Katie have not played together before. Alex is a very consistent hitter employing good pace and a lot of topspin. He is also a superb mover and retriever of lost causes, but Margaux succeeded in doing to him what he does to others – making them wonder how someone could possibly get to a seemingly out of reach ball then hit it back for a winner. Katie wins a lot of points from the pace of her serves and groundstrokes.

Given this was her third match of the day, Margaux didn’t seem to be at all tired. She played many good angled volleys and other winners.

The match was pretty tight, revolving around small margins. The first set went 6-4 to Jasper and Margaux, both playing pretty well.

The second set reached 5 all. In the final game Alex had a chance to put a crucial point away with a smash, and thought he had succeeded, but Margaux chased it down outside the deuce court, with Alex getting a second chance. Again a decent smash, but this came back again from Margaux who won the point and her side took the game, resulting in a 7-5 set. The final score was 6-4 7-5 to Jasper and Margaux.

The schedule for the matches during the Gourmet Dinners second week is as follows

The delicious Gourmet Dinners Monday through Thursday are mainly full now, so you would have to use special pleading with Sultan! More details of the Gourmet Dinners and Finals Day BBQ here.

The following matches were played today – half of them Mixed Doubles quarter finals, where the schedule is much tighter to get to the Mixed Doubles Final on Thursday night.

• 12:00 MXD QF Sultan Gangji & Jen Ananda-Rajan vs Joseph Rigal & Becca Vaughan
• 12:30 MD Peter Davies & Peter Farrell vs Alex Vallmajor & Steve Yoo
• 13:00 MXD QF Greg Lim & Marjan Denis vs Logan Mair & Posy Frederick
• 14:00 MS Steve Yoo vs Olly Turner
• 18:00 MS Logan Mair vs Geoff Isaacs
• 19:00 MXD QF Stephen Cooke & Alex Reyner vs Richard Keep & Natalie Milner

In the first Mixed Doubles quarter final match, Sultan Gangji & Jen Ananda-Rajan (/Ehr), the fourth seeds, were being challenged by Joseph Rigal & Becca Vaughan, the seventh seeds.

The match was of a high standard between first team players in form. In the first set, Joseph and Becca displayed high levels of fitness to retrieve a number of tactical lobs and drop shots, to deny Sultan and Jen and set up breaks.

In the second set, Sultan and Jen raised their game enough to be able to take it to five all, and then broke Becca, to take the set 7-5 to level the match.

But the effort must have taken its toll on them in the match tie break (first to 10), as Sultan and Jen conceded the first 4 points. The next two or three (depending on who you ask) points were more equal and strongly contested, but went to Joseph and Becca. It was then too late for Sultan and Jen. With a 7-0 lead behind them, Joseph and Becca weren’t going to let go, and went on to take the match tie break 10-2.

Not only did Sultan lose the match, but he was also the first person to upset his own draw seeding by losing to a lower ranked seed.

In a Men’s Doubles on grass court 3, Peter Davies & Peter Farrell played the fourth seeds Alex Vallmajor & Steve Yoo. The Peters can both play consistently, and have reasonable serves with some variety, but don’t have the big shots to induce errors from the seeds. Peter F in particular has a robust forehand. Alex and Steve have stronger games and took the net positions wherever possible, and a slight wind made it difficult to lob them accurately without hitting long or giving them a smash to put away. Peter D got broken, and then Peter F won his first service game, but that was it in the first set for the challengers. Alex took advantage of the slightly soft green patches on the deuce court side of the court nearest the spectator area, when serving.

In the second set, it was Peter D held his service once, for a 6-1 6-1 victory to Alex and Steve. But a good time was had by all.

In the second Mixed Doubles quarter final match, Greg Lim & Marjan Denis, 5th seeds played Logan Mair & Posy Frederick, top seeds and 2023 Title Holders. Apparently, there wasn’t much in the first set, with Logan and Greg serving big and dominating at the net (rather easier for Greg who has a few inches advantage in height over Logan). Marjan and Posy put in a solid doubles performance. But there were breaks and Logan and Posy won the set 6-4.

In the second set, Logan and Posy were more dominant. It looked as if Posy was playing particularly well, with few errors, good serves, decent groundstrokes, and thoughtful tactics. On Marjan’s serve Posy passed Greg down the line at least a couple of times when he tried to encroach too much into the middle of the court to get a cheap point. Logan was solid too, while Greg wasn’t consistently getting first serves in and served the occasional double. Logan and Posy took the second set 6-1 for a 6-4 6-1 victory.

It makes a great picture when everyone is in tennis whites, with even Greg making an effort by not wearing his orange tennis shoes! Shame I didn’t ask them to all do the same thing with their rackets!!

Is Logan right that we should adopt all white tennis dress? Was it dress policy deliberately agreed for this particular match just to make a point? I will doubtless find out!

In the Men’s Singles, Logan Mair, the top seed, and Geoff Isaacs somehow manage to sneak in a late 6 pm booking for their Men’s singles without me noticing, so I wasn’t there. Logan afterwards described Geoff as a “tricky player”. Geoff can hit with a good pace and is pretty consistent, though not with the same “brute force” weapons that Logan can bring to bear on a match. Uncannily the score for Geoff went almost precisely the same way as in his Men’s Doubles match with Gideon Stone against Joseph Rigal and Ollie Turner. That is, Geoff found himself serving at 4-5 down to save the first set, but was broken to lose it 6-4. He then won no games at all in the second set for Logan (and Joseph & Olly) to win 6-4 6-0.

Unless one of the players took a selfie or someone else stepped in with a camera, there is no picture of the combatants.

There was a late weekend Mixed Doubles quarter final between Richard Keep & Natalie Milner, 8th seeds, and Stephen Cooke & Alex Reyner, 2nd seeds. This was another high quality mixed doubles match to round off the others played today.

Natalie joined recently, having been a member of Jen Ehr’s Oxford Uni tennis team squad previously. But she plans on going to Mexico in early August with her partner, so won’t be around for that long. She has a strong first serve when it goes in, but didn’t hit it in consistently enough, and found herself under a lot of pressure on the second serve, sometimes giving away cheap points. Otherwise her game was of a high quality.

Based on experience over the past few tournaments, Stephen deliberately avoided going in for the Men’s Singles this year so as not to play too much during the West Heath Tournament and pick up an injury which might prevent him from playing his best (or sometimes at all!) in the two doubles events. So far the strategy has worked well.

Both Richard and Stephen are tall and have some very strong first serves, which often don’t come back. But Richard can’t always deliver them consistently. Alex hits serves and groundstrokes with a lot of pace, but sometimes goes off the boil on the serve. She can also retrieve some balls seemingly impossible to get to.

Things started well for Richard and Natalie. Alex commented afterwards that she had agreed to play with Stephen on the basis that she expected him to hold his serve to take the pressure off her, and it didn’t help much that he lost his first service game! So Richard and Natalie went into a 3-0 lead. But Stephen and Alex broke back to get to 5 all, then took Natalie’s serve to win the first set 7-5.

In the second set, Natalie and Richard struggled to hold serve, and got broken, while Stephen and Alex came through pressure on their serves better. There were some amazing rallies, particularly Alex retrieving balls 5 yards out of the court, while avoiding hitting it back within reach of Richard at the net. But Stephen and Alex played the more consistently, and won the set 6-2 for a 7-5 6-2 victory.

We are all looking forward to Moira’s lamb tagine on Monday evening. Don’t forget to turn up at 6 pm to watch the tennis, whether you are booked to dine with us later or not!

The following matches were played on Saturday 20th July on the porous macadam court 4:-

• 13:00 MS Henry Lloyd-Hughes vs Greg Lim
• 14:00 MD Joseph Rigal & Olly Turner vs Geoff Isaacs & Gideon Stone
• 15:00 LD Moira Duncan & Marjan Denis vs Lesley South & Jane Boyle

After the heatwave conditions during Friday daytime, the grass courts were given a good watering to slake their thirst on Friday evening. Unfortunately then Saturday turned out not to be as warm as expected, and there was an unexpected shower on Saturday. The result was that some of the grass ended up waterlogged, and did not recover in time for the 13:00 start of tournament play on Saturday afternoon. So all three matches were played sequentially on hard court 4 to suit the avid spectators!

In the warm-up singles, Henry Lloyd-Hughes took on the fifth seed Greg Lim.

Having successfully negotiated the first round Geoff Isaacs & Gideon Stone came across the more significant obstacle of Joseph Rigal & Olly Turner, the third seeds. Geoff and Gideon don’t make too many unforced errors, and Geoff can hit with pace and accuracy. Joseph and Olly hit rather harder, and can force errors from opponents, but make occasional bouts of mistakes.

The seeds won the toss, elected to serve, and roared into a 4-0 lead by hitting hot and breaking both the challengers. At this stage Geoff pronounced that his main aim was to avoid the double bagel, which was clearly a possibility.

Geoff and Gideon had a few words about tactics, to try to stem the flow, and broke the seeds immediately. Geoff then professed he was glad to have avoided the double bagel, but I unkindly pointed out that, if semantics allow a 10-0 loss in a match tie break to count as a bagel, Geoff’s strategy ought to be to lose the first set, having now won a game, as winning it would not prevent a double bagel in the subsequent two sets, but losing the first set would. Geoff agreed with the logic, but wasn’t convinced enough to adopt the strategy.

Subsequently, aided by a higher error rate from the seeds, Geoff and Gideon took another 3 of the next 4 games, to get back on serve and leave Geoff serving at 4-5 to save the set.

Geoff’s service game went to a number of deuces. Towards the end of it, the pressure was telling, because he was getting rather fewer first serves in. Eventually he got broken to lose the set, the seeds taking it 6-4.

Buoyed by this critical success, Joseph and Olly proceeded to win all the games in the second set for a 6-4 6-0 victory.

The last of the scheduled matches was a Ladies’ Doubles between Moira Duncan & Marjan Denis and Lesley South & Jane Boyle. Marjan is the hardest hitter and the most mobile of these, though Moira can put lot of pace on the forehand. But Lesley and Jane are tactical experts at placing balls beyond the reach of opponents. Lesley’s angled shots regularly leave opponents standing, and Jane’s lefty slice drop shots are very effective, even if you are expecting them, so they are a very tricky pair to beat. The strategy for Moira and Marjan would have been not to give balls to Lesley and Jane which would enable them to hit such shots, but this is easier said than done.

Moira played well throughout, being especially consistent on the medium height volleys at the net, though Jane was adept at drop shotting her on her short services. Marjan hit with pace and made the occasional errors. For those in the know, a good summary of the opponents from one spectator was that Jane and Lesley were, well, Jane and Lesley!

The first set was very tight, though breaks were traded. No one could gain an enduring advantage, and the set reached 6 games all. In the tie break, Marjan and Moira played well, and took it 7-4.

In the second set, breaks were again traded. Sitting next to me, Bruce Rigal commented that the set had all the hallmarks of going to another tie break. However, having broken their way back to 4 all, Moira and Marjan broke and Marjan held serve for a 7-6^7-4 6-4 victory.

These pairing definitely take the prize for the best post match photo team racket positions and body stance coordination – and completely unprompted!

Various people did knock up and play social tennis on the grass courts throughout, but they weren’t really playable for tournament matches.

Here are the matches played on Friday 19th July – all men’s singles matches!

• 17:00 MS David Cohen vs Geoff Isaacs
• 17:30 MS Alex Vallmajor vs Kris Engley
• 18:00 MS Jasper Tresidder vs Philip Reid
• 18:00 MS Luca Fioretti vs Richard Keep
• 19:00 MS Joseph Rigal vs Orhun Guly

Kris Engley played Alex Vallmajor, the third seed.

It emerged later that Anne Sophie Capel had been at least partially responsible for Kris beating Kerry Karageorgis by a decent margin in the previous round. Playing in the same social four, Kerry had previously asked Anne Sophie what Kris was like, never having met him. Anne Sophie said he was 55 with two children, and rather busy to play very much. The evening before the match was Kerry’s wife’s birthday. Kerry was deciding whether or not to have another beer, and his wife cautioned him not to, given the match the following morning. But Kerry considered it was safe to do so, given Anne Sophie’s counsell! However, Kris is actually married with no kids, in his early forties and can hit a decent ball. So he beat Kerry 6-1 6-0. Anne Sophie was clearly thinking of someone else, or determined to sabotage Kerry’s chances!

I was personally fascinated to see how the match went between the two lefties, Luca Fioretti and Richard Keep, the second seed. Against me, Luca used a variety of flat and leftie slice serves, which had considerable sidespin. He also can put considerable sidespin on groundstrokes and has a super 2-handed crosscourt backhand. He beat me 7-5 6-0.

Richard has a booming serve and some powerful groundstrokes, but was struggling somewhat with seeing the ball – particularly from the hard courts end of grass court 2. But, as a spectator, from the other end of the court, I was also finding it a little difficult to immediately pick up the flight of balls. Further, Richard was not serving that well.

Meanwhile, on court 3, Jasper Tresidder played Philip Reid, the sixth seed. Sultan clearly had a view on the likely outcome of the match from his seeding of Philip. But some of the spectators were seriously doubting the match would go this way, as Philip has not been playing that regularly recently, and Jasper is more consistent than before.

Both players are similarly tall (from the photo), with heavy serves and groundstrokes. Jasper is perhaps less consistent than Philip at his best, but Jasper plays regularly.

In the final match of the evening, Orhun Guly was challenging the seventh seed, Joseph Rigal, supported, as ever, by his father, Bruce, who has not entered the tournament this year, not being available for the second week!

As an occasional Men’s First Team player, Joseph has a much stronger and more consistent game than Orhun, but can go through occasional periods of lower concentration, with errors creeping in (as most of us do). Further, he can get very frustrated with this.

There were three Men’s Singles matches played in this period.

J P Doumeng played David Hirst, the eighth seed. Apparently the match was a pretty close run thing. In the early stages it looks like JPD was playing rather better than David.

In the first set, JPD got himself a double break up. David stepped up his efforts, and broke back, and ended up saving 3 set points to get to 5 all, then broke to take the set 7-5.

The second set was of a rather higher quality. This time JPD forced himself to 4-3 up, but David won the last 3 games to take the match 7-5 6-4.

Jasper Tresidder played Dan Dalton. Dan has a decent game, but Jasper has a booming serve (when it goes in) and some really heavy groundstrokes, but can be error prone. It looks like Dan mainly held his own in the first set, which Jasper won 6-3. But Jasper walked away with the second set to take the match 6-3 6-0.

Peter Farrell played the fourth seed Olly Turner. Peter is consistent and pretty mobile about court, but doesn’t have too many weapons to threaten Olly. Olly won the match 6-2 6-2.

In the Mixed, Olly Turner & Jane Boyle played Jasper Tresidder & Margaux Valarche, the sixth seeds. Jasper and Margaux used to attend the same school and were friends there, and this is not the first time they have played together in the mixed.

In the Mixed Doubles, Mark Webb & Lesley South played the seventh seeds Joseph Rigal & Becca Vaughan. Mark is a solid doubles player, but can’t match the raw pace of Joseph, who sometimes plays for the Men’s First Team. Lesley is excellent at placement, including superb angled volleys. Becca is a key member of the Ladies’ First Team with good pace and consistency.

Mark & Lesley had rather a stiff uphill battle to contend with, and could only win enough point for one game, losing 6-1 6-0 to the seeds.

You might think that it is up to the members to protect the West Heath turf from intruders. But it seems we have been getting a little help lately from a very friendly and sociable ginger cat who seems to had adopted us. You have to watch it to the end as the situation develops.

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Don’t forget to sign up on the list in the clubhouse for the delicious Gourmet Dinners Monday to Thursday 22nd to 25th July, and for the Finals Day BBQ in the evening of Saturday 27th July!

Alternatively you can email the West Heath LTC mailbox at westheathltc@gmail.com and we will add your name to the list (provided it is not yet full).

Names of attendees have been blurred out but are visible in the clubhouse.

Note that the menu for Lesley’s supposed “Thai” meal is below:-

Astute observers will notice that it will be, in fact, a Mexican meal, not a Thai meal!!!