British Tennis - Lawn Tennis Association

Week 10 Blog Esporta Wearside - AEGON Team Tennis Premier 18&U Girls (North)

Player captain Amy Hoburn describes her team’s final victory which qualifies them to the Premier 12&U – 18&U Finals at the National Tennis Centre in July

Due to having a very successful season so far, we were through to the deciding match of our group against Holcombe Brook from Lancashire with the winner going through to the Premier 18&U Finals.  We knew Holcombe Brook had a good team and that they had also won all their previous matches.  Due to exams and other tournaments, we did not travel down to Holcombe Brook with our strongest possible team.  However, we still felt confident with a team made up of Caitlin Hindmarsh (3.2), Amy Hoburn (4.1), Farah Abdel–Aziz (5.1) and Beth Smiles (7.1).  

Esporta Wearside 18&U Girls ready to face Holcombe Brook 18&U Girls (L-R Beth Smiles, Farah Abdel-Aziz, Caitlin Hindmarsh, Amy Hoburn ) 

We all travelled down together, building our team spirit which we knew would come in very useful during the tightly fought, deciding match. We set off for Holcombe Brook within plenty of time, hoping to get a practise as we knew the courts were very different over there. 

All four singles matches headed on court, all hoping to make a good start.  Beth, who is only 14, faced a very tough opponent. Despite playing well, Beth lost out on the set 6-3.  However, in the second set, Beth fought extremely hard and managed to take the set into a tie-break but unfortunately didn’t take the set. 

Holcombe Brook were 1-0 up.  In the mean time, Caitlin was on court having a tough battle in the first set.  At 6 all, the set was going to be decided on a tie-break, with Caitlin taking the tie-break 7-4 after playing some good tennis. She then managed to get a good start in the second set, going 4-1 up and was then able to finish the match off, winning 7-6 6-1, meaning the match was now equal at 1 rubber all. 

Action shot of Caitlin Hindmarsh

On the next court, Farah’s opponent had unfortunately got an injury but continued to play the first set.  Farah played a very good and steady set, winning it 6-1.  After the first set, her opponent then had to retire, meaning Farah had won the match and the team gained another rubber, putting us 2-1 up.

Meanwhile, I was having a very tight match on the next court.  Due to a slow start, I found myself 4-1 down in the first set.  I managed to get back the 4-4 but lost the set 6-4. I then had to forget about the first set and concentrate on winning the second! In a very closely fought set, I managed to level the match by winning the set 6-4. 

At 1 set all, it was now time for a match tie-break.  With great support from Farah at the back of the court, I played a steady tie-break, winning it 10-6.  This now meant that the team was 3-1 up, giving us lots of confidence going into the 2 doubles matches. 

 Amy Hoburn in singles action.

Caitlin and I went on court knowing that if we won, the whole match would be won and we would then qualify for the Premier 18&U Finals at the National Tennis Centre! However, we needed to concentrate on our current match and got off to a good start, winning the first set 6-1.  Now that we knew exactly what our tactics were and they had proven to be successful, we carried them on through the 2^nd set, playing some good doubles and won the set 6-1. 

Meanwhile Farah and Beth were having a very good doubles match which included some great tennis.  After a slow start going 4-1 down, they managed to come back and won the set, 7-6.   Despite carrying on playing some very good doubles, their opponents came back to level the match at one set all.  In a closely fought tie-break, Farah and Beth just lost out on the match, losing it 10-7.  

View the rubber results from the match

However, despite the loss of this rubber, we had won the match 4-2. Overall, it was a solid performance and a great team effort to win the Premier 18&U Girls North Division. We will definitely take this into the Premier 18&U Finals where we will hopefully become National Champions once again against the winners from the South East, South West and Midlands.

Result: Esporta Wearside 18&U Girls beat Holcombe Brook 18&U Girls 8-4

The AEGON Team Tennis Premier 12&U-18&U Finals are held at the National Tennis Centre, Roehampton on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July 2011. The winning teams from the Premier 12&U, 14&U, 16&U and 18&U events from the North, Midlands, South East and South West regions will compete over the two days.