12U Boys National Finals Report
Cambs boys were straight into the County Cup Finals in Nottingham with the Counties of Kent, Surrey, Dorset, Middlesex, East of Scotland, Yorkshire and Oxfordshire. The counties were divided into two groups and Cambs had Yorkshire, East of Scotland and Surrey in their group. Depending on where you finished in your group you played the opposite number from the other group to determine your final position.
The format was four singles of FAST 4 and then two doubles matches and if there was a tie the overall match was decided by a doubles shoot out tie break to 10 points.
The team of Beau Martinez-McCune, Louis Garner, Jethro Wong, Jimmy Wright and Yanyi Xiong travelled up in the early hours of Friday morning in torrential rain to arrive at Nottingham where we were able to practice indoors but the schedule was changed, and the first round of matches went indoors but only one FAST4 set was played making it vital for players to get off to a quick start. Cambs were playing Yorkshire in the first match.
First up was Jimmy Wright at number 4 against Samuel Hawkins. This was a tight match and Jimmy initially holding his own with some solid play and he went 2/1 up but then Samuel started to find his consistency and range and after a sudden death deuce point at 2/1 Jimmy lost 8 points in a row and consequently the match 2/4.
The weather then improved, and matches were moved outside. Jethro at number 3 played against Seb Beetlestone. Jethro competed well in every game and they shared the first two games and the third game went to a sudden death deuce and next went to 30 but Seb just moved ahead and then took the set 4/1.
Louis at number 3 then played Maxim Sokol. Unfortunately, Maxim was too solid and consistent for Louis in very tricky windy conditions and won relatively comfortably 4/0.
This meant Beau at number 1 had to win his match to keep the overall tie alive going into the doubles. Beau competed very well against Max Hodkinson and the match was tight all the way through. When Beau played with discipline and real focus, he was winning the points and did very well to get to 3 games all. Beau played a very good tiebreak and went 6/1 up only for Max to come back to 6/4 before Beau closed out the match giving Cambs a lifeline.
The boys’ pairings of Yanyi and Louis and then Beau and Jethro were really motivated to try and win the doubles. Yanyi and Louis played against Alexander Crowther and Samuel Hawkins and won very easily and quickly 4/0 to leave the match score at 3/2.
Beau and Jethro played very well in the first 2 games, winning the first and losing the second on a deuce point having been 40/15 up – this seemed to be the turning point as the Yorkshire pair then relaxed and played better and despite some individual very good points the pairing of Seb and Maxim came out 4/1 winners to give Yorkshire a 4/2 win. It was a shame only one set was played as l am sure Cambs might have got to 3 matches all had full sets been played.
After this match. Cambs then played East of Scotland in the singles on the Friday. East of Scotland had won their play off group to get to the finals. The same line up in the singles was selected for this match. Matches were now the best of 3 FAST4 sets.
Jimmy playing with greater consistency had a very tight match with Coby Stewart. He took the first set 4/3 winning the tiebreak 7/1 and looked to be in control but lost his way in the second set from leading 1/0 to lose it 1/4. The match then went into a tiebreak which was very tight all the way through but sadly Jimmy lost this 8/10 – a good battle.
Jethro then took on Jack Fair and played very well winning this 4/3 (3) and then he ran away with the second set 4/0 – great match to draw scores level.
Next up was Louis against Arthur Mckinlay. This was a very tight match and Louis managed to take the first set on a tiebreak 8/6 but then got too emotional in the second set and lost this 0/4. He was still too involved in his own play in the match tiebreak and went 2/7 down but then calmed down and pulled the score back to 7/7 all with some good play but unfortunately lost the next 3 points -leaving Cambs 2/1 down in matches.
Beau was up against Fraser Newcombe and although he battled hard, he was outplayed and out thought by his opponent and lost 0/4, 2/4.
This left Cambs 1/3 down at the end of Day 1 but all to play for in the doubles on the Saturday.
Day 2 – Cambs finished off their match against the East of Scotland with the same doubles’ pairings of Beau and Jethro and then Louis and Yanyi and played this indoors. Both pairs played at the same time making for an exciting couple of hours. Beau and Jethro got off to a flying start and played some exciting and really good doubles to take the set 4/1 from Arthur and Fraser. Their opponents then left the court for a very long toilet break to regroup. Beau and Jethro were in complete control going 2/0 up only to do a few silly shots and before they new it were 2/3 down. Although they then won Jethro’s serve to take the match to a tiebreak they lost this 4/7 and so the match went to a third set match tiebreak.
Meanwhile on the next court Louis and Yanyi playing against Jack and Coby played solidly and after being 1/2 down fought back to take the first set 4/2. They then played carefully but effectively to take the second set to a tiebreak which they won convincingly 7/1 – match score now 2/3.
Beau and Jethro played a very good match tiebreak from 3/3 with some exciting and attacking doubles to win this 10/4 – match score all square at 3 rubbers each and into a shoot-out. One person from pair 1 and one person from pair 2.
Beau played with Yanyi in this against Arthur and Corby – after a nervy start when they lost the first 2 points they then played solidly and got back to 3/3 at the first change over. They then attacked the weaker player and got their tactics spot on and accumulated the points with good doubles and won this 10/4 – victory from the brink of defeat. First win of the weekend.
After a break Cambs took on the formidable Surrey team. Cambs played the same singles line up with James starting off against Daniel Pratt who proved to be far too consistent for James and attacked the ball well particularly when James was short on his groundstrokes. He lost to a better player on the day 1/4, 2/4.
Jethro then played Theodore Lee and unfortunately didn’t seem to have his usual energy levels and made too many unforced errors in this match and despite going 2/0 up with a good start he then lost the set 2/4. Jethro re grouped and went 2/0 up in the second set but then played a couple of poor games and he was 2/3 down although he took the set to a tiebreak, he again made too many unforced errors and lost this 5/7 – a shame as this was a winnable match.
Louis then played Cole Edwards and had a real battle with his opponent and himself. He lost the first set 1/4, took the second 4/2 and went 5/1 up in the match tiebreak only to make a series of errors and got himself too emotionally worked up and lost this 7/10 – such a shame as Cambs needed a singles win.
Beau at number one played Tomas Gabor, a very good left hander who was far too strong and tactically astute and lost 0/4, 1/4.
Cambs then changed the doubles pairings with Jimmy coming in to partner Yanyi against Daniel Pratt and Aidan Vaid. They got off to a great start and went 3/0 up but unfortunately didn’t get another game after this and lost 3/4 (6), 0/4. It was a shame they didn’t get the first set as the overall results might have been different then!
Beau and Jethro then played Tomas and Noah Morgan and had a really entertaining, quality doubles match which was great to watch, and they won 4/3 (0), 4/3 (5) to give Cambs the one rubber in this match.
Sunday saw Cambs take on Middlesex for positions fifth and sixth. We played the same singles line up. Jimmy played his best match of the weekend against Orlando Gallon. He had to battle to stay in the first set when 2/3 down but played a good tiebreak and won this 7/2. Having got the fist set Jimmy played a bit more freely and took the second 4/0.
Jethro on the adjoining court also played his best singles match of the weekend and beat the unorthodox Oscar Illingworth-Law where he had to concentrate very hard on every ball coming to him. Jethro did this very effectively and won without the loss of a game 4/0, 4/0.
Next up was Louis against Lukas Andonegul – another tight match. Louis took a 3/0 lead and then got emotional but managed to hold this together to win the set 4/2. Lukas played better and took the second set 4/1 and so into a match tiebreak – 3/3 at the first change over but then a series of errors saw Louis go 4/9 down and although he battled to 7/9 it was too late and he lost this 7/10. If only people just played their opponent and not themselves as well!
Beau was up against Ivan Timoshenko in another hard-fought match. He started off well and then became a little negative and so lost the first set 2/4. He bounced back and took the second set 4/2 and held his own in the match tiebreak until 6 all and then made a few too many errors and lost this 6/10. This was a shame but still all to play for in the doubles.
Beau and Jethro paired up against Lukas and Ivan and played some really good doubles again and won this convincingly 4/1, 4/2 despite a slight wobble after being 3/0 up in the second set when they seemed to lose focus – match score now 3 rubbers to 2.
Louis and Yanyi played Orlando and Darius Udwadia and played very well in the first set to win this 4/2 but lost their way in the second and lost this 0/4 and so to another match tiebreak! They took an early 4/2 lead, but it was 6/6 at the next change over and then 6/7 with lots of unforced errors (at this point a shoot out was looking likely!) but they somehow kept it together and a couple of good volleys from Yanyi saw them home 10/7 and a 4/2 rubbers win.
Cambs ended up fifth overall which was a great team effort. With more emotional control and self-belief some of the matches could easily have gone the other way.
Captain Sue Rich was very proud of the team and how they all worked together especially with some great doubles.
Thanks to our wonderful parental support and great comardy a good weekend was had by all – role on the next County Cup in 2025. ‘Up the bridge.’
Sue Rich
