9U Boys County Cup Report
Our u9 boys’ team of Kevin Yuxuan Liu, Avaughn Williams, Eric Selcuk, Winston Heinonen and Leon Garner travelled up to Boston (not in the USA like some of the boys thought) on Sunday 24th March for the county cup. We arrived at the venue at 9am with a stand in captain, who the boys had never met before as Richard was sick. To the boys’ credit, it didn’t faze them at all as they behaved with respect and listened really well as if they had known their captain for years.
We started the morning with a fun warm up of team ball drop followed by some throwing the nerf ball before we got into the racket warm up. which helped relax the boys into the day. First up was Lincolnshire which was a hard-fought encounter. The first to play in every round were our 3rd and 4th players of Eric and Winston. Eric with his outstanding fighting spirit and outlasting attitude conquered his opponent Oliver Chubb 4-1, while unfortunately Winston went down 1-4 to Henry Scott-woods playing some outstanding attacking tennis but sadly it wasn’t enough, which left us tied at 1-1. Then on came our 1&2 of Kevin and Avaughn. Kevin battled to a close loss of 2-4 to Henry Saxby with many sudden death deuces while Avaughn played some wonderful attacking tennis, serving down bombs and ripping forehands cruised to a 4-1 win against Archer Evans. Which left us going into the doubles level at 2-2.
Pair 1 was Avaughn and Eric who won the first of many doubles on the day 4-2 against Archer and Oliver. They really worked well together with Eric never missing in the rally attitude complimented Avaughn’s ability to finish off the points left Cambridgeshire 3-2 up.
Our 2nd pairing of Kevin and Leon cruised through their doubles match 4-1 to complete the 4-2 win. A special shout out to Leon who was really unwell the whole day, but supported his teammates and showed real character in thecouple of matches he played to get the win for us.
Annoyingly we had a break next for about 1 hour and a half and this could have halted the momentum going into the second match against Leicestershire, but the boys did really well, and we cruised to victory 5-1. As our 3&4 players kicked us off with Winston demolishing his opponent, playing with a lot more consistency and focus with a 4-0 win against Benjamin Tan. Eric lost out to Ferdinand Johns 4-1 being a tad over aggressive at times but always fought for every point. On came our 1&2 with Avaughn defeating a very good opponent in Siqi Jiang who had powerful groundstrokes and serve 4-2 with a drive volley forehand being a highlight. Kevin played against a tough opponent in Ibrahim Abdelaty who moved well, and he was extremely consistent. Kevin stormed into a 3-0 lead only to lose a bit of concentration, and getting slightly tight allowed his opponent to get back into the match to 3-2. With sudden death deuce looming Kevin hit a forehand cross court winner only for his opponent to wrongly call the ball out and send it to a tie break. At this point our boys were unbelievable with our togetherness with supporting Kevin. Kevin could have got upset and let this situation get the better of him, but it only spurred him on to take the tie break 7-4 and put Cambs into a commanding 3-1 lead.
With Leon unable to compete through sickness, our first pairing of Kevin and Winston worked really well together, with great communication, court position and teamwork, dispatched Siqi and Ferdinand 4-1, while the dream team of Kevin and Eric comfortably beating Ibrahim and Ishar Sandhu 4-1.
Our third tie came against probably the toughest team of the day, Nottinghamshire. Our 3&4 boys Eric and Winston got us off to a great start disposing of their opponents with Eric beating Louis smith 4-1 and Winston beating Zac Kurlen4-1. Both our boys being solid in the rally wearing their opponent’s down until victory. After quickly going 2-0 up next up were Kevin and Avaughn to play their singles. Both players competing against opposition in what I would describe as mini professional tennis players that hit the ball like u12s. Kevin was up first against Demir Cicek and quickly went 2-0 down being overpowered and out manoeuvred. After receiving some advice to keep the quality of the rally ball, moving the opponent as soon as he has the chance, Kevin went 3-2 up. After a battling game it went 3-3 and into a tie break. At this point Kevin was moving extremely well, not missing in the rally to which his opponent didn’t know what to do, and became passive, at which point this gave Kevin the initiative to finish the tie break 7-4 and put Cambs into a commanding 3-0 lead.
On the court next to Kevin, was an emotional fought match which saw Avaughn lose out 4-3 to Theodore Percival. In a battle of whoever got the first strike in, would win the point, Avaughn narrowly missed out with a match that could have gone either way.
Going into the doubles with a 3-1 lead, the boys played fantastic doubles to win the tie 5-1. Winston and Kevin playing number 1 doubles against Notts number 1&2 players of Demir Cicek and Theodore Percival. With Kevin flying high with confidence, and Winston striking the ball well, our boys didn’t miss a ball and frustrated their opponents into a 4-2 win. In the other doubles, with Avaughn feeling a bit down with his loss and not feeling very well, Eric supported him fantastically well playing some quality tennis winning 4-1 against Louis smith and Zac Kurlen. This was the end of Avaughn and Eric were undefeated dream team of the day.
With confidence souring through the team, everyone bonding together with a great team atmosphere, all the boys were ready to rumble for the last fixture of the day against Northants. The boys quickly put the tie to bed with all 4 boys winning their singles matches to put us 4-0 up. Eric doing what Eric does best and wearing down his opponent to take a 4-2 win against Alfie Felstead. Winston’s ball striking just too much for his opponent Lucian with a straightforwarddemolition 4-0. Avaughn was back on it, spirits high using his massive serve and forehand to complete a 4-2 victory against Northants number 2 Federick Agius. Finally, Kevin out manoeuvredhis opponent Nicholas Scappa with a 4-1 win, hardly missing a ball against an opponent who was extremely competitive, but he was up against a Kevin who moved extremely well, who was a brick wall in the rally and who was impossible to get the ball pasted.
With the Cambs boys leading the tie 4-0, we decided to change the doubles slightly to give Leon another match. A sick Leon was subbed in to replace Eric who had competed unbelievably all day, battled to victory with Avaughn against North Hants number 2 doubles Lucian and Mono Healy 4-3. Having not played together, Avaughn and Leon played smart tennis at the right moments to get the job done. Being 5-0 up at this point the boys struggled to maintain their focus with the tie already won. Kevin and Winston narrowly went down 3-4 (10-8) in the tie break. The boys were 6-3 up in the tie break but match points came and went due to tightness, but also a dodgy call from the opponents. Nevertheless, it was a great day for the Cambridgeshire boys who collected their medals and on their way to Nottingham for the finals.
Congratulations to all the boys and a special thanks to Josh for stepping in to captain the team. The boys had a great day. Finals here we come!
Sue Rich
