On Saturday 18th August, our 9U Team (Denzell Darkey, Alice Haddad, Trian Lakha, Anita Singh, Hollie Smart, Mika Stojsavljevic, Michael Wilson and Leo Wright) competed in the South East 9U Regional County Cup Competition at Dukes Meadows Tennis Centre. Led by 9U captains Linda Jones and James Mott with the aim of securing Middlesex’s first 9U Title which has been won by Kent for the past 3 years in a row.

The players (+ Celine Ricaud and Sam Zlotnik) all trained hard over the summer to prepare for this competition, and with a final practice the day before at Westway Sports Centre and new handshakes the players were buzzing for the competition.

On the morning of the competition, the players arrived early to get in an excellent warm up and pep talk from our captains.

Match 1 Middlesex Beat Surrey 5-4
First up was Surrey, Trian very quickly served Middlesex on the scoreboard with a 7-0 7-3 win over Robbie, Surrey No1. Michael, playing no 2 had a tight loss against William Genberg 7-5 7-5. In the 3rd boy’s singles, Leo took an early lead winning the first set 7-4, however Mark upped his game to push Leo and Mark took this for Surrey in 3 sets 4-7 7-5 9-7.

In the girl’s singles, first up was Mika V Hannah. Both girls are very strong for their age group and Hannah’s superior tactics gave Surrey a 7-3 7-2 win. Martha for Surrey followed with a 7-5 7-5 win over Alice to put Middlesex under pressure and take a 4-1 lead.

In the last singles, Hollie kept Middlesex in the match with a 7-4 7-4 win over Ophelia. Middlesex needed to win all 3 doubles to win the match.

In the boy’s singles, Denzell and Michael played against Mark and William and played brilliantly to overcome a loss of the first set to win 4-7 7-4 7-4.

The girls Mika and Anita took the first 7-2, however lost the second 5-7. In the third set, the girls were neck to neck... 9-9, 10-10. Mika and Anita took the next two points to level the tie 4-4.

Trian and Hollie comfortably won the Mixed doubles 7-2 7-1 to give Middlesex the win after a very competitive first tie.

Match 2 Middlesex Beat Sussex 8-1
Next up was Sussex, Henry gave Trian a very tough match in the No 1 boys singles, however Trian pulled through 8-6 5-7 7-4 to give Middlesex another 1-0 lead. There were more routine wins for Middlesex in the 5 other singles including Anita rounding off the singles with a 7-0 7-0 win. And secure the Tie. Sussex played well to take the boys doubles against Denzell and Michael 8-6 3-7 9-7, however routine wins for Alice and Hollie, Trian and Mika meant Middlesex won 8-1.

Match 3 Middlesex Beat Kent 6-3
Last to play were defending champions Kent, who also had 2 wins against Surrey and Sussex so in effect the Final.

Trian for the third time in the day started off proceedings with a 7-2 7-1 win. Mika quickly making it 2-0 with a 7-3 8-6 win over Nikita Phillips and Hollie making it 3-0 with a 7-5 8-6 win over Sadie Bristow.

Michael and Leo played well in their match’s but Kent had the better tactics on the day to secure the wins, which mean Middlesex were 4-2 ahead going into the doubles, and 1 doubles win would secure the match.

Denzell and Michael looked like they would make it easy for Middlesex, rushing into a 7-3 lead. Kent however piled the pressure on and took the next two sets 7-4 7-5.

Alice and Mika took on Nikita and Genevieve in the girls doubles which saw them lose the first set 8-6. Alice and Mika stepped up their game to take the next 2 sets convincingly 7-2 7-1 and therefore claim Middlesex’s first 9U County Cup Crown.

Hollie and Trian teamed up to secure the final match 7-9 8-6 7-1 to make the final score 6-3.

A great effort from all players throughout the day and Well done to captains James and Linda who worked with the players throughout the year, especially developing their doubles tactics and awareness.

We were sadly informed a few days later, Sadie Bristow from Kent died suddenly after suffering an anaphylactic shock on a family outing. Sadie was a very talented player with a passion, drive and determination for tennis. Her family Stewart, Clare, April and Charlotte are setting up a charitable organisation to aid allergy understanding, research and prevention.