After months of qualifying events, the Sussex Winter Mini Tennis Master’s Finals for under 9’s were played on Sunday 10th May. The format for both the boys and girls events were the same with the 8 finalists being placed into 2 round robin box’s with the top 2 from each box going through to a knock-out draw.
In the boys event the final 8 boys’ were Charlie Warren, Cameron Waller, Ted Bloomfield, Gregory Shaw, Harvey Kilsby, Alex Target, Julian Standish & Shaun Smedley. Following some closely contended matches Cameron Waller was undefeated in group A with Alex Target moving through to the semi-finals as the runner-up. It was a much closer affair in box B with three players, Gregory Shaw, Charlie Warren & Ted Bloomfield all finishing with 2 wins each. However, it was Ted Bloomfield and Charlie Warren that progressed having both achieved a better win/loss percentage than Gregory.
The first semi-final between Cameron Waller and Charlie Warren went to Charlie in straight sets 7-4 7-5. In the other semi-final Ted Bloomfield pushed Alex Target all the way in the first set, however Alex proved too consistent in the end taking the set 9-7 and then running away with the second set 7-1 to move into the final.
Both Alex and Charlie looked very nervous as the started the final with neither boy taking a clear lead in the first set until Charlie eventually made the breakthrough to take the set 8-6. Alex came beak strongly and stormed through the second set 7-1. Again the nerves took hold of both boys in the deciding set with neither boy able to take a hold on the match. Eventual it was Alex’s nerve that held and he took the set 8-6 to become the winter master’s champion. In the 3rd/4th play-off Ted Bloomfield won a close fought contest in three sets over Cameron Waller.
Marley Manga, Tia Curtis, Sonnay Kartel, Francesca Guldemond, Hollie Irwin, Sophie Kitson, Lauren Bishop and Ellie Dasnet were the girls that had got through to the finals. Following some close matches in their boxes, it was Marley, Ellie, Tia & Sonnay that emerge as the four girls that would contest the knock-out stages of the competition. In the first semi-final, Marley beat Sonnay in straight sets while, the second semi went down to the wire with Ellie pushing her opponent all the way before Tia triumphed 7-4 in the third set. In the final Tia was untroubled in the first set taking it 7-3, however Marley fought back strongly to win the second 7-5 and take the final to a third set. Tia raced away to a 5-0 lead and looked to have the match won, but Marley then found her range and didn’t drop another point winning the decider 7-5. In the 3rd/4th play-off Ellie Dasent won a tough match 7-4, 5-7, 7-4.