Chichester Racquets & Fitness Club hosted their HSBC Road to Wimbledon national challenge stage-one event.
It was run over two very wet and windy weekends. Qualifying, first and second rounds were played on the first Sunday with the semis, play-offs and the two main finals the following week.
The HSBC Road to Wimbledon 14-and-under national challenge is the UK’s largest national junior grass-court tournament.
It is about clubs, tennis centres and BSTA schools supporting their juniors and organising a tournament, giving opportunities for keen juniors to progress to the county finals and move towards national finals at Wimbledon. The event encourages boys and girls of all standards to play and enjoy competitive tennis.
The winners of the first stage will go through to the county finals and the 44 county winners, and 20 best runners-up, will qualify for the national finals in August.
This year the national finals, a grade-three event, will be held on the grass courts of the Bank of England sports ground at Roehampton, adjacent to the National Tennis Centre.
The girls’ singles ended in a final in which Emily Dodd beat Ella Herman 4-1, 4-2, with Hannah Emerson coming in third.
The boys’ singles ended with brothers Matt and Luke Spencer in the final. Younger brother Matt ran out 4-0, 4-1 winner, with Will Colley picking up third.
The consolation event for the boys’ singles was won by Sam Ellison, who beat Alexander Margarson 4-0, 4-5, (10-5) in the final.
Tournament organiser Peter Cook said: “It was very encouraging to see so many 14-and-under players from the Chichester Racquets & Fitness Club competing.”
Email to a friend
Print this pageSource: www.chichester.co.uk
French Open 2012: Azarenka plans to rest up ahead of Wimbledon - The Sport Review
Victoria Azarenka plans to take a break ahead of Wimbledon after she was dumped out of the French Open by 15th seed Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round.
The world No1, who lost 6-2 7-6 (7-4) to her Slovakian opponent on Sunday, admitted she has been struggling with mental and physical fatigue in the wake of her maiden Grand Slam triumph in Melbourne back in January.
The 22-year-old Belarusian lost in the finals of both Stuttgart and Madrid before pulling out after the first round in Rome last month and said she does not plan to play any tournaments ahead of Wimbledon later this month.
“There has been a lot of tennis for me in the last five months,” said Azarenka after her defeat on Sunday. “I haven’t been home in a while, and it’s something that I need just to get rested mentally, definitely, and just to get out of the tennis field a little bit.
“And once I have my passion and desire back on the court, I’ll be on the grass.
“Today I couldn’t do it. It was just not going for me. I tried everything. All I could hope for was her mistakes.”
“I think she plays much better against the top players than maybe a little bit lower-ranked players. She really has that desire. I don’t know what motivates her to play that way.”
Cibulkova had beaten Azarenka just once in eight meetings before Sunday’s fourth-round match and the Slovakian, who will face either Sam Stosur or Sloane Stephens for a place in the semi-finals, admitted she was worried she might blow her chance of beating the world No1.
“You can’t be human if you weren’t thinking about that,” said Cibulkova. “This year in Miami I was 6-1 5-2 up against her. And last year in Miami it was the same.
“Today it happened the same when I was 4-2 up. And that’s why I got a little bit…not nervous, but not going for my shots any more.
“But today it was a great thing that I managed to go through these emotions. She was 6-5 up, and I said, ‘Hey, come on, you have to play your game again and just make it.’” 
Source: www.thesportreview.com
Essex: Police appeal following attempted abduction of 10-year-old girl - East Anglian Daily Times
By Laurence Cawley
Sunday, June 3, 2012
9:09 AM
DETECTIVES are appealing for information following the attempted abduction of a schoolgirl.
The 10-year-old was walking along Great Plumtree in Harlow at 3.30pm on Fridaywhen she was approached by the male passenger of a small blue saloon who grabbed her by the hood.
The man’s friend, the car driver, then shouted at him which forced the man to let go of the girl. She ran off to her nearby home and alerted her mother. The car followed the girl a short way, but then drove off.
Investigating officer Ds Steve Jones, said: “This incident left the girl very frightened and upset. S
“he has been brave and spoken to us, providing a good description of the man who accosted her. We would urge people who saw the incident or a car matching the description we have given to contact us.
“Furthermore, given the distinctive description of the man, we are confident somebody can give us a name so, again, we urge them to contact us so that we can establish what happened on Friday afternoon.”
The man who grabbed the girl was white, in his late 20s or early 30s, of average build with muscular arms, spoke with a foreign UK accent, had a scar on his top lip and has Roman numeral tattoos on his left forearm.
At the time of the incident he was wearing a blue T-shirt, black jogging bottoms and black trainers. The car is described as a small four-door saloon with blacked-out front and rear side windows.
Anyone with information in connection with this attempted abduction is urged to contact detectives at Harlow police station on 101.
Source: www.eadt.co.uk
Sign in to leave your comment
0 comments