Record Number Of Entries For Worksop Closed Championships

This seasons Annual Championships saw a record number of players enter the competition held at Sparken Hill Academy on Sunday the 29th of January. Over 50 players turned up ready to do battle and with the high level of entries playing over 200 matches it meant for a late finish of 7.15pm.
Last season's Open Singles champion Ernest Mpundu comfortably navigated his way through to this year's final dropping only one game along the way. Mpundu made the final with a 3-0 win over Steve Johnson who played really well to get through to the semi-final stages. Mpundu will meet Richard Element in the final who himself only dropped a single game in the Open Singles and also enjoying a 3-0 in the semi-finals against Chris Cattell.
There weren't many surprises on the day but probably the biggest of them all was Peter Eyre and Jack Kirkland's magnificent run to the final of the Open Doubles. Along the way they had a second round 3-2 win over Jeff Reay and Alex Olliffe followed by a 3-0 win over Malcolm Manuel and Kalpesh Bhatt in the quarter finals but by far their best win by over the current holders and firm favourites Rick Harris and Ernest Mpundu in the semi-finals. Their win over Harris and Mpundu was no fluke as they comprehensively beat their opponents 3-0 to make it through to the final where they will meet Richard Element and Steve Johnson who themselves had some good wins en route  to the final over Mick Bell & Dave Marsh, Kartik Lakhani & Steve Lyon and Chris Cattell & Farrell Anthony in the semi-final in straight sets.
Another surprise came in the 2nd Division Singles as Jeff Reay who is top of the singles averages in Division Two and who was everyone's favourite before the day started got knocked out at the first hurdle by Kieran Tutter. Tutter followed that up with a quarter final win over Mitchell Radford and then was involved in a terrific semi final match against Clive Eden who he managed to edge out 3-2 to make it through to the final. In the final Tutter will be up against Mark Bloomer who himself knocked out one of the favourites in Mark Sansom 3-0 at the quarter final stage and then defeated James Wormwell 3-2 to earn himself a place in the final.
The final of the 2nd Division Doubles will be between Clive Eden & Mark Bloomer and Jeff Reay & Alex Olliffe who because of a bye and the low number of entries in this particular competition only had to play one match to make it through to the final. Reay & Olliffe defeated James Wormwell and Mark Fisher 3-0 in the first semi-final with Eden & Bloomer beating Mitchell Radford & George Makrakis 3-2 in a fabulous game of doubles.
The overwhelming favourite in the 3rd Division Singles was Farhad Saiepour who before the Championships had won 30 out of 30 singles matches in Division Three and hadn't remotely looked like losing one either. Saiepour had a bye in the first round of matches and then lived up to his tag of favourite by beating Nigel Stent and then Neil Fisher to cruise through to the final where he will meet the ever improving Connor Bettley who enjoyed deserved wins over Jordan Potter, Graham Stent and Keith Bloomfield to clinch his place in the final.
Bettley will also feature in the final of the 3rd Division Doubles along with his partner Ivan Stallworthy where they will meet Nigel Stent and Neil Fisher. Bettley & Stallworthy beat Dave Lee & Dave Rix in their semi-final whilst Stent & Fisher had a good win over Farhad Saiepour and Kay Wilson.
The three out of four of the semi-finals of the Junior Singles came from the same family as Orestas, Martynas and Valentinas Riauba made it through with Jack Kirkland joining them. Valentinas defeated his brother Martynas 3-0 and with Orestas beating Kirkland by the same scoreline to make it a Riauba family final!
The Handicap Singles competition enjoyed the most entries and each match was played up to 31 with no deuce with the final being decided by Mark Sansom and Nigel Stent who battled their way through a long competition. Sansom enjoyed wins over Neil Fisher, Erlands Skels, Steve Lyon and a 31-30 win over Orestas Riauba in the semi-final. Stent had a good run to the final with wins over Tony Swain, Derek Piper, Clive Eden, Helmuth Osborne before beating Jordan Potter in the semi-final.
Last season's Over 40's champion Ernest Mpundu had a trouble free run to the final beating Kartik Lakhani, Mark Bloomer, Kalpesh Bhatt and Dave Marsh. Mpundu will play Chris Cattell in the final who himself had an easy passage through winning in straight sets against Tony Swain, Andy Lee and Farrell Anthony.
The final of this year's Plate Singles will be between Andy Lee and Jack Kirkland who both had a pretty straightforward Plate Singles competition. Kirkland won all his games in straight sets on his way the final knocking out Derek Piper, Nigel Stent and Alex Olliffe along the way. Lee was untroubled apart from slightly tricky matches against Martynas Riauba and Rick Harris beating them both 3-1.
The last competition to report on was the Draw Doubles which is always a tough competition to win as the doubles pairings are drawn out of a hat at the beginning of each round and drawing a good partner can make all the difference and this year's final will feature four players who all play in Division One  in Peter Eyre, Rick Harris, Chris Cattell and Orestas Riauba which should make the final a pretty even contest.
If anyone would like to come along and watch either or both of the League's Finals Nights then they are both to be held at Stanley Street Club on Tuesday the 28th of February and 28th of March.