10U Boys County Cup Report
The boys’ team of Vincent, Adam, Eli, Hugo and Philip travelled to Caunton Tennis Club for the North Area Group C 10U event on Saturday and Sunday the 18 and 19th May.
Cambs were in a group with Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire with the winner of the group progressing to the North area finals in June. Each county played every other County in the group with matches being the best of 3 FAST 4 sets with the third set being a match tiebreak. Each match consisted of 4 singles and 2 doubles and if the rubbers were 3 each then a doubles shoot out was played.
First up on the Saturday for Cambs was Nottinghamshire, who on paper looked as if they might be the toughest match. The first match was Hugo against Michael at number 4 and this was followed by number 3 Eli and then numbers 2 and 1 – Adam and Vincent. Hugo had a tough match against Michael and went 0/3 down although two of the games went to sudden death deuce. He fought back very well to get to 3 games all and force a tiebreak only to lose this 3/7. The second set was another good battle, but Hugo lost out 2/4 – he needed to serve a little better and finish more at the net. On the adjoining court Eli took on Oliver and looked very confident in this match as he raced into a 3/0 lead and then took the set 4/1. Eli maintained this momentum into the second set and won this 4/2 to ensure the tie was tied at one match a piece. Adam then showed his class and athletic ability as he beat Aarush 4/1, 4/0. Vincent at number 1 had the toughest opponent in Joseph and was made to work hard throughout and went 3/1 up only to make a few errors but then closed out the set 4/2. He did the same in the second set and went 3/1 and again finished this off to take the match 4/2, 4/2 and give Cambs a 3/1 lead after the singles.
The doubles were played at the end of the day, so the next round of singles was against Northamptonshire. This proved a relatively easy match for all the players. Philip came into the singles line up at number 4 to play Otto and won 4/0, 4/0, next up was Eli at number 3 and he beat Nicholas 4/0, 4/0. Adam then beat Esa 4/0, 4/0 and this was followed by Vincent playing Rupert and he too won comfortably 4/0, 4/1 to give Cambs a 4/0 lead after the singles. Cambs players were too consistent and savvy for their opponents.
Cambs then played the doubles against Nottinghamshire. Eli and Hugo who have played together a lot paired up for the doubles against Harry and Theodore and had a great battle but combined very well with some excellent team work to come out 4/2, 4/3 (5) winners. At the same time Adam and Vincent took on Aarush and Joseph and again had a really good match but just combined slightly better to end up winning 4/3 (5), 4/1 to give Cambs a 5/1 match result. Great team effort.
Cambs then finished off their match against Northants and we switched the pairings, so Adam played with Philip at pair 1 and Vincent and Hugo at pair 2. Adam and Philip won without losing a game and Vincent and Hugo won 4/1, 4/1 – a few too many double faults.
At the end of the day Cambs were top of the group after only losing one match and having probably played the strongest team in Nottinghamshire.
On day 2 in some glorious sunshine the boys were up against Leicestershire first and although Hugo at number 4 was winning comfortably on one court on the next court Eli was having a tussle against Theodore and himself. Eli lost the first set 0/4 and was getting visibly upset but with some reassurance and positive talk he managed to turn his match around the took the second set 4/0 to head into a match tiebreak. With his emotions more under control he took this 10-3. Hugo showing some great skills and solid hitting won 4/1, 4/0 against Samuel Dodds. Adam showed his athletic qualities and used his powerful forehand to sweep past Clark 4/0, 4/0 and then Vincent battled hard and used his brain to beat Ibrahim 4/1, 4/2 although several of these games went to the deuce point. Cambs were 4/0 up after the singles.
This left the boys to play against Lincolnshire in the last match knowing a win would take them through to the finals. We stuck with the same singles line up and Hugo and Eli got the team off to a great start with Hugo beating Freddie 4/0, 4/0 and Eli doing the same against Archer 4/0, 4/0. Adam had a tougher match – in fact his toughest of the weekend against Henry but got himself fired up and when he attacked the second serves with his forehand, he looked awesome and came out a 4/2, 4/2 winner. Vincent also had a tougher match at number 1 against Oscar going 0/3 down in the first set before he regrouped and came back to 3 all and then took the tiebreak 7/3. He then won each of the next 3 games on the deuce point and after w slight wobble won the set 4/2. Cambs again 4 matches up.
To finish the day the boys played doubles firstly against Leicestershire where Hugo and Philip beat Samuel and Theo 4/1, 4/0 – some good volleying here from Philip and then Vincent and Adam beat Ibrahim and Clark 4/0, 4/0.
In the second doubles against Lincolnshire Eli paired with Philip to beat Emilis and Freddie 4/0, 4/1 and Adam and Vincent beat Oscar and Henry 4/0, 4/2 to wrap up a very successful weekend in Caunton.
The boys topped the group from Nottinghamshire who were in second place and won 23 out of the 24 rubbers played and only dropped 3 sets all weekend. Congratulations to the team who have qualified for the North Area Finals on 8th and 9th June in Boston. A great team effort and all the boys supported each other and combined really well together, and the parental support was terrific. Keep working on your games boys to stay at this level.
Sue Rich
