REPORT ON  CTTA JUNIOR CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIPS 2005
By Pete Cruwys 

There was a good entry of 48 players for the 9 events, the U11, U13, U15, U18 Boys and Girls Singles and U18 Doubles, but due to the large entry the Doubles will be played at a later date.

The events were played over two evenings at the Cheltenham College Sports Hall.

Boys U11
There were 11 entries, and two groups were played.

Warren Cannon and Bruce Wright both played well in their group. In the semi-finals Karl Foster beat Matt Williams in 4 close games, and Ryan Makepeace beat Dan France.

In the final Ryan beat Karl in 3 straight games.

Boys U13
There were 16 entries and 2 groups of 4 and 2 groups of 3 were run, with the two top seeds given byes.

Tom Wright won his group, Karl Foster won his group, Matt Williams won his group.

In the 4^th  group the 3 players each won one set, and they all had the same number of games, for and against. The points won and lost were 73/73 by Sam Clarke, 76/76 by Richard Weir, both just better than 73/77 by Mike Teague. The winner was Richard Weir , as he had beaten Sam in the group.

Richard beat Tom Wright in 3 close games, Karl Foster beat Jake Theophilus in 3 games, and Ryan Makepeace beat Matt Williams in 3 games.

In the semi Milan Dragojlovic beat Richard Weir in 3 games, and Ryan Makepeace beat Karl Foster in 4 very exciting games, 11/8, 7/11, 11/7, 11/5.  

In the final Milan took the full 5 games to beat Ryan, having lost the 1^st and 3^rd, but took control of the 4^th and 5^th game.

Boys U15 
There were 20 entries, and 5 groups of  4 were played.

In group 1 Milan Dragojlovic was the winner and Abid Hussain runner up.
In group 2 Robert Harvey was the winner and Andy Sutherland the runner up.
In group 3 Niall Pawsey was the winner and Jake Theophilus the runner up.
In group 4 Grant Pawsey was the winner and Jamie Makepeace the runner up.
In group 5 Ryan Makepeace was the winner and George Deacon  the runner up.

Jamie beat his brother Ryan in 4 close games to reach the quarters.
Abid Hussain beat Jake Theophilus to reach the quarters.

In the quarters Milan beat Andy Sutherland in 3 games., but Jamie Makepeace beat Niall Pawsey in an exciting encounter 10/12, 11/8, 11/9, 11/13, 11/8.

Grant Pawsey beat Abid in 3 games and Robert Harvey beat George Deacon in 3 games.

In the semi final Milan comfortably beat Jamie and Robert easily disposed of Grant.

The final between Milan and Robert was as usual, dramatic, unpredictable, and close , going the full 5 games

They are similar in styles, square on players, who hit forehand drives to forehand side and backhand drives to backhand and ordinary services.

Robert won 11/ 8 in the 5^th.

Boys U18
There were 16 entries, and 4 groups of 4 were played.

In group 1 Mike Harvey was the winner and Niall Pawsey the runner up.
In group 2 Milan Dragojlovic was the winner and Jamie Makepeace the runner up.
In group 3 Rob Harvey was the winner and Ryan Makepeace the runner up.
In group 4 Grant Pawsey was the winner and Abid Hussain the runner up.

The quarters saw an easy win for Michael Harvey over Ryan Makepeace, and Robert Harvey over Abid Hussain.

The game between Milan and Niall Pawsey was won by Milan in 4 games, but it was Niall’s inability to close off the 3^rd and 4^th close games that cost him.

Undoubtedly the match of the tournament was Jamie and Grant who are both lefthanders. Jamie shaded the first 18/16, lost the second 6/11, won the third 11/7, and then lost the 4^th 12/14. Jamie won the 5^th 11/6 in flamboyant style.

In the semi Michael Harvey easily beat Jamie Makepeace in 3 games.

In the other semi Milan and Robert Harvey had their usual close, and tense set, which as in the U15 went to 5 games.

Both players played rather negatively, neither wanting to lose, and there were a lot of unenforced errors. Any luck going seemed to go to Robert, and every game could have gone either way. Robert finally won 11/9 in the 5^th.

The final between brothers Robert and Michael was also very close, going to 4 games. Maybe Robert was too desperate to win, as he lost the last few points in two of the games. Robert at least took a game off his brother.      

There was a small entry in all the 4 girls events, but it is pleasing to have some quite young girls playing, even if inexperienced.

Girls U11 
Jennifer Sadie won this event and Natasha Wakefield played very cool to be the runner up, only losing 6/11 in the 5^th game.

Becky Doran and Nicole Mills really impressed with their determination in their first tournament.

Girls U13 
Sophie Newbery as expected won this event, but she had to struggle against Alice Rodger, who in her first tournament reached the final.

Alice had beaten Jennifer Sadie 12/10 in the 5^th game in her group, and then beat her sister Nicola in the semi final in 3 games. Her prowess as a dancer stood her in good stead, as she exudes confidence, and has good footwork.

Girls U15 
Emma Mollison was a clear winner with the extra power. It was between Sophie and Nicola for runner up. This time Nicola managed to win 11/7 in the 5th game.

Girls U18  
Once again Emma Mollison was a clear winner, although Emma Hiscoke came close to taking the first and second game, but was outplayed in the third.

There is no doubt Cheltenham has a large quantity of juniors. Efforts will be made in the spring to improve the quality of the juniors who have the raw talent, and want to become better players. 

Peter Cruwys
Organiser
CTTA Closed Championships.