15 year old Laura Feely recently travelled to South Ribble to compete in the North of England Championships.
Unseeded Laura progressed through to the semi finals of the under 16’s and under 18’s tournament. In the under 16’s Laura came up against Hannah Pulford of Yorkshire who Laura has played in the past but never beaten, Laura played a solid match and quickly scored a 6-1 6-1 win. In the under 18’s Laura played Amy Kirkup from Durham & Cleveland. Laura was always in control of the match and ran out the eventual winner to progress to the final.

Sunday was finals day and first up was the under 18’s final where Laura was to play the number 1 seed Phillipa Fulchini from Lancashire. Laura started really well and quickly raced to a 4-0 lead but Phillipa fought back to take the set to a tie break. Laura had chances to win the set however eventually lost it 10-8. Into the second set and Laura was focussed and played really well to take the set 6-2. So after 2 hours everything rested on a championship tiebreaker, it was closely fought but Laura was very determined and took match and the title 10-8. After 2 ½ hours it was a very close match with great tennis from both players.

After a quick break up next was the under 16’s final and Laura’s opponent was Bethan Taylor from Cheshire. Bethan proved to be a very hard player to break down and Laura had to work extremely hard as she quickly found herself 3-0 down. Laura had to be patient but came back to win the first set 6-4. Laura stepped up her game and eventually her ground strokes proved too strong and she won the second set 6-1 to take the title and win a memorable double.
Laura was obviously delighted with her achievement and would like to thank her coaches, Ian Watson, Colin Hanbidge and Jim Edgar. Also thanks to Ralph Peake of Luminaires who sponsored Laura’s trip and Sport Aid and Sport Institute for their support.