A beaming Lesley South closed off the 2026 Gourmet Dinners with an extensive, tasty and professionally cooked Vietnamese meal.
Many thanks to all the Gourmet chefs for feeding us so well this week, ensuring everyone was in excellent spirits – with more of that from Sultan and his rosé?
Sultan’s speech of thanks, also letting us know about the EGM to approve the new clubhouse plans, was short and to the point! So a good time was had by all.
Of course, the mood was mainly set by the excellent tennis throughout.
On grass court 1, in one Men’s Singles semi-finals, Alex Vallmajor, one of four equal 5th seeds, challenged Stephen Cooke, the top seed and reigning champion. Alex is very mobile and consistent and hits all his ground strokes with topspin, as befits someone brought up on European clay courts! Alex generally makes few mistakes, but doesn’t have the pace which Stephen can generate, especially on the serve. Stephen is also very consistent, but has an extra option of going for winners on many shots.
By choice, Alex would have played the match on a hard court, but that is not permitted during the second week of the tournament, if the grass is playable. He believes grass introduces an extra element of the chance of a bad bounce, which constraints which shots you can sensibly go for.
Alex competed strongly in the first set, in which there were a number of lengthy rallies, but Stephen mostly had the answers and was able to take the set 6-3. Alex tried a few things in the second set, but it became increasingly clear none of them were working as Stephen won the set 6-0 for a 6-3 6-0 victory into the final.
In the Men’s Singles semi-final on grass court 2, James Li-Tremble, another of the four equal 5th seeds, was hoping to get the better of Logan Mair, the third seed. James has excellent ground strokes and service return, and can put pressure on an opponent. Logan can similarly hit hard, and can normally rely on his heavy first serve to obtain a weak return from an opponent.
In this match, Logan did not consistently get his first serve in, which he needed to do to keep up the pressure on James. It may have been because of pressure from James’ return of Logan’s second serve, though it could also have been that this was just “one of those days” for Logan. So there were too many missed first serves and double faults from Logan, and some missed ground strokes on attempted winners too.
Meanwhile, James was rather more consistent, and heavy hitting.
In the first set, Logan was broken, had chances to break back, but couldn’t take them. James won the set 6-3..
In the second set, Logan just couldn’t get enough first serves in to provide a platform to take on James. Logan won two games, to give James a 6-3 6-2 victory.
There are thus two schools of thought as to what might happen on Logan’s serve in the Men’s Doubles final on Saturday, where Logan (and Stephen Cooke) will again be pitted again against James (and Greg Lim). Will James similarly be able to pressure Logan’s serve because of James hard hitting returns? Or will the pressure be off Logan’s first serve because a) only half of them will be to James anyway, and b) James is constrained to hitting returns to Logan’s serve into the smaller area from which Logan has just served, or giving Stephen a chance to hit a volley (not usually recommended). We all look forward to finding out!
The completion of the second Mixed Doubles semi-final followed. Sultan Gangji & Jen Ananda-Rajan, had to resume from 6⁵-7 3-5 down to the 4th seeds, the unseeded pair of Margaux Valarche & Dan Angle.
After extensive warm ups, play resumed with Jen serving, and she won this vital game after a couple of scares. Dan was then serving for the match. Sultan and Jen must have been under too much pressure, because they missed the return on most of Dan’s serves, allowing Dan to wrap up the game to love, and Dan and Margaux to win the match 7-6⁵ 6-4 to take their place in the subsequent final.
2026 Mixed Doubles Final
The Mixed Doubles Final was umpired by Greg Lim and featured Olly Turner & Lizzie Johnson, the 3rd seeds, against Dan Angel & Margaux Valarche, who were unseeded. However, in their path to the final, Dan & Margaux had despatched Greg Lim & Marjan Denis, unseeded former winners, the 2nd seeds Joe Rigal & Becca Vaughan, and the 4th seeds Sultan Gangji & Jen Ananda-Rajan.
Dan and Margaux are very consistent, and fast about the court but perhaps not as hard hitting as Olly, who is a leftie. Lizzie is very consistent and rarely made a mistake. Dan and Margaux got to most things, but couldn’t necessarily get the ball past Olly and Lizzie.
Olly played on the right, which makes it easier to poach at the right hand side of the net on the ad points (your racket hand is closer to the middle of the net). Olly did successfully poach at times, but Dan and Margaux were wise to the possibility, and there seemed to be at least an equal number of points where Olly got passed down the line on his right, when he moved too soon or his intentions were not disguised enough. When not at the net, a few times, Olly successfully hit a highly angled pick up from wide, short balls, which travelled almost parallel to the net before dropping in on the other side of it, just out of reach the opposing net player. He missed one or two of these as well.
Both sides maintained a lot of sideways sways and short moves at the net, to cast doubt into receivers minds as to whether the net player was going for a poach or not. With the exception of Olly, the answer was generally not.
Lizzie made few mistakes and often covered for Olly.
In the first set, Dan and Margaux started well, but got broken and could not get back the break, for a 6-3 set to Olly and Lizzie. In the second set, Olly & Lizzie seemed to have the tactics sussed out, and it was less of a battle, with Olly & Lizzie winning it 6-0 to give them the title 6-3 6-0.
The Mixed Trophy will be presented on Final’s Day, on Saturday.
The question on a number of minds right now is whether Lizzie can take the Triple Crown by winning both of her remaining events – the Ladies’ Singles against Posy Frederick, and the Ladies’ Doubles, playing with Jen Ananda-Rajan against Posy Frederick (again) and Alex Reyner.
See you all on Saturday, for the other Finals.
