Donarbon Open Tournament

The annual Donarbon Open Tournament held at the Cambridge Lawn Tennis Club from the 19th to the 24th July attracted a record number of players and also this year the highest standard to date.

Players came from Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Kent, Warwickshire, Channel Islands, Leicestershire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Middlesex, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Berkshire, Buckinginghamshire, Gloucestershire and Cambridgeshire. This Grade 3 tournament has grown each year. The weather was kind all week and the finals finished mid afternoon on Saturday. Local players who did particularly well were 12 year old Dominic Lea who had some excellent wins in the 12 and under event and reached the final before bowing out to top seed Salil Navapurkar from Middlesex narrowly losing  6-2, 3- 6 and then 12 points to 10 in the third set match tie break – so near yet so far!

Stella Gordon from Cambridge reached the semi finals of the 14 and under singles before bowing out to top seed Yasmina El Sayed from Nottinghamshire. Stella also reached the quarter finals of the 16 and under girls event as did club mate Zoe Douglas of Papworth. Ben Clark reached the boys 14 and under quarter finals.

In the older boys age groups local players were ousted by some tough opposition from outside the region although Will Huyton reached the quarter finals of both the 16 and under and 18 and under events before losing to physically stronger opposition. Jack Thorndike played well in the 16 and under and 18 and under but the opposition was so strong he only made the third round of each event.

There was local success in the 14 and under girls doubles as Zoe Douglas and Alice Taylor beat Pippa Scotcher and Alex Jones in a tight 3 setter.

In the younger age groups pride of place goes to Alex Wardley who reached the final of the boys 10 and under before losing to Suffolk’s Oscar Cuttting 1-4 , 1-4. Peterborough’s Charlie James reached the quarter finals in this event. In the 9 and under event Charlie Taylor reached the quarter finals and Molly MacDonald was runner up in the girls event. In the 22 player 8 and under event Zachary Cox and Olivia Clegg reached the semi finals which was an excellent achievement.

Overall an excellent week full of quality tennis.