Mixed weather fails to spoil tennis tournament

Aug 15 2008 by Our Correspondent, Dumfries Standard Friday

THE SOUTH of Scotland Tennis Championships drew to a close last weekend after a successful week’s tennis.

Despite the mixed weather from Tuesday onwards, the Referees and Management Committee did an amazing job in steering all the events through to the final stages.

There was great co-operation from all concerned in transferring the finals from Moffat to Nunholm, Dumfries, to complete the finals there due to the rain finally taking its toll and waterlogging the Moffat courts.

The local crowd was treated to some excellent tennis in the finals.

The Men’s Singles final saw local, Dean Little from Gretna, and seeded 6th take on Gary Smith, seeded 4th from Whitecraigs.

Dean has been competing very well in national events and is on course to reach the season end Grand Prix Final event.

Dean did well to reach the final, beating, among others, the No 1 seed Scott Nicolls en route to the final.

He was, however, against a tough competitor in Gary. On the day, Dean did not manage to dominate the game in his usual forceful style with Gary’s excellent tactics of principally keeping the ball off Dean’s forehand as much as possible which resulted in Gary securing a convincing win, 6-4, 6-1.

There was local success in the Gents Handicap Doubles with Colin Dunbar, the local tennis coach from Lockerbie, and Ian Hutchison from Moffat winning the Gents Handicap with a crowd pleasing performance, defeating Richard Tennant and Nicholas Morris 9-6.

It was excellent to see such a fantastic level of play in all events and the standard of play moved up a notch again from the previous year. With good Scottish performances, there is much hope for continued Scottish Tennis success in the future.

Sponsors of the event were: Annandale & Eskdale Upper Area Committee, Annandale & Eskdale Sports & Leisure Trust; DS Smith Packaging, Lockerbie; Claudios, Black Bull, Buccleuch Arms, Star Hotel, Stag Hotel, Best Pizza & Kebab House, Moffat Woollen Mill, Balmoral Hotel and Scottish Co-op, all of Moffat.

Results

Men’s Singles Open: Gary Smith (Whitecraigs) bt

Dean Little (Cavendish) – 6-4, 6-1.

Ladies’ Singles Open: Julie Blackwood (Dunblane) bt Lydia Mary Sui (Wolverhampton) – 7-5, 6-1.

Men’s Doubles Open: Ewen McGinn and Gary Smith (Giffnock/Whitecraigs) bt Scott Nicolls & Sean Smith (Western/Stirling University) w/o.

Ladies’ Doubles Open: Emma Gibson and Jennifer Steel (Strathgryffe) beat Sarah Drummond and Jamie Smith Whitecraigs/Western) 6-4, 4-6, 10-2.

Mixed Doubles Open: Gary Smith and Emma Lawson (Whitecraigs) bt Jamie Smith and Graham Revie (Western/Thornpark) 9-6.

Men’s Singles Handicap: Sandy Barr (Whitecraigs) bt David Fisher (Falkirk) 9-6.

Ladies’ Singles Handicap: Paris Mae Goodman bt Abi Houghton.

Men’s Doubles Handicap: Colin Dunbar & Ian Hutchison (Ballplay Moffat/Nunmholm) bt Richard Tennant and Nicholas Morris (Wolverhampton).

Boys’ Singles u18 Robert Price (Giffnock) beat Sam Griffiths (Wolverhampton) 6-4, 7-5

Girls’ Singles u18 Daneika Borthwick (Chatsworth) bt

Julie Blackwood (Dunblane) 6-0, 6-4.

Boys Singles u16: James Kelly (Royal Berkshire) bt Sam Griffiths (Wolverhampton) 6-0, 6-2.

Girls’ Singles u16: Daneika Borthwick (Chatsworth) bt

Julie Blackwood (Dunblane) 6-0 6-0.

Boys’ Singles u14: Gregor MacLean (Dunblane) bt Stephen John Glasgow (Strathgryffe) 6-1, 6-0.

Girls’ Singles u14: Grace Baker (Wolverhampton) bt

Eleanor Good (DL Edinburgh) 6-3, 6-0.

Boys’ Singles u12: Steven Leighton (Strathgryffe) bt

James Sutherland (NG Glasgow) 3-5, 5-4, 10-3.

Girls’ Singles u12: Abi Houghton (Wolverhampton) bt Paris Mae Goodman (Wolverhampton) 6-0, 6-3.