Element Switches On To Take Open Singles Title

Richard Element overcame Tom McIntosh to win the Worksop & District Open Singles in his first ever season in the league. Element showed all his skill and experience to defeat McIntosh at the Championship Finals Night held at Stanley Street Club and he was rarely troubled throughout. Element won in straight sets but it surely won't be too long before McIntosh has his own name on the trophy.
The Open Singles wasn't the only Final that Element was involved in as he had also made the Final of the Draw Doubles with names of the four finalists been drawn out on the night. Element was drawn to play with Andy Lee leaving their opponents Kalpesh Bhatt and Dave Marsh as second favourites but Bhatt and Marsh didn't let that worry them and despite losing in straight sets could have taken the match all the way going down 11-8, 11-9, 11-8.
Like Element, Dave Marsh was also involved in a second final as he came up against Rick Harris in the Over 40's competition. Harris took the first game 11-7 but Marsh hit back to take the second 13-11 but that was to be the only success he had as Harris won the next two games 11-8, 11-2 to be crowned Over 40's Singles Champion.
The final of the Plate Singles which is a competition for players who lost in the first round of the Open Singles was a very close and entertaining affair. Steve Elkin of Division Two was pitted against Division One's Matthew Williams who started as slight favourite. In a match that ebbed and flowed throughout Williams struck first winning the first set 11-6 but Elkin hit back to take the next two 11-7 and 15-13 to lead 2-1 but Williams just wouldn't roll over and hit back to win the 4th set to take the match fittingly into a 5th and deciding set which Elkin just managed to win by the narrowest of margins 11-9 to take the Plate Singles title.
In his next final Elkin was on the wrong end of a 5 set match as he and Rob Vaughan teamed up to play Alex Olliffe and Jeff Reay in the Final of the 2nd Division Doubles. Elkin and Vaughan won the first but Olliffe and Reay took the next two to lead 2-1 before Elkin and Vaughan won the fourth to take the match into a deciding set which Olliffe and Reay won 11-8 to deservedly take the title.
Reay's good performance in the 2nd Division Doubles Finals came after being thumped by his club colleague Clive Eden in the final of the 2nd Division Singles. Reay probably started the match as very slight favourite based on both their individual league averages but that counted for nothing as Eden just didn't let Reay get going and comfortably won in straight sets.
One other result was the final of the Junior Singles between brothers Tom and Kyle McIntosh which had to be played the week before due to player availability issues. Tom McIntosh who was runner-up last year showed no mercy to his older sibling Kyle winning in three comfortable straight sets.
Another Cup Competition was decided this week as both the Semi-Finals and Final of the Carnation Cup were played out on the same night at Ryton Park School. In the first semi-final Jeff Reay and Orestas Riauba defeated Matthew Williams and Daniel Cutts 3-0 with Andy Lee and George Makrakis just squeezing past Clive Eden and Valentinas Riauba 3-2 in the other semi-final.
Despite the scoreline the final was much tighter than it suggested with all the games being very close but Lee and Makrakis won it 3-0 to take the title which was made all the sweeter for Andy Lee as it was the first time in 32 years of trying he'd managed to win the Carnation Cup!
Back to league matters and the Division Three title chase took another turn this week with a 'top of the table' clash - the El Classico of the third division with the two Stanley Street Clubs both in contention for promotion to the second division.
On the night it was Stanley Street D who took the honours 8-2 after some terrific games that were played in the right spirit of the league competitions with Lee Webb being the star player of the night winning all three of his singles matches. Webb was ably supported by Glyn Williams and Andrew Agnew who both won two of their singles matches and then went on to win the doubles match in straight sets against Mitchell Radford and Graham Stent.
For the Cypriots Radford won a five game thriller against Williams after finding himself 2-0 behind after the first two games but he pulled the next three back by winning the fifth game 12-10 to take the match 3-2. George Makrakis won his game against Andrew Agnew 3-0 to take the second and last set for the Cypriots. The result has put Street 'D' on top of the division and 2 points ahead of the three teams directly below them - hold on to your seats folks as the last 3 weeks of the season are going to be very interesting to say the least!
Division One Results: DTH Redlands Joggers 8 Manton Tigers 2, MBE 2 DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 8, RTH Redlands Joggers 0 Ryton Park Adders 10 (Claimed) DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 9 Ryton Park Adders 1.
Division Two Result: Stanley Street 'C' 9 Ryton Park Cougars 1