Ladies & Mixed Open Championships 2001

Harrow School 24th March

A different format was used this year, which combined both the Mixed and the Ladies Open into one day. The Ladies Championship was played in the morning, with the Mixed starting at midday, to be completed late afternoon. Both tournaments overlaped, by seeding the ladies who were in the later stages of the morning play, into the second round of the Mixed Tournament. The priority was to ensure that no one played too much Fives!! By removing the Plate competitions that would usually take place, and by playing each match as best of one game the balance was just right, and everyone played the amount of Fives that would usually be associated with either the Mixed or the Ladies Tournament.

The size of the entry for the Ladies Championship was a record breaker! Thirty ladies made it to the starting line-up, which included several pairs from the staff and pupils from the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz.

The Pools system ensured that everyone played plenty of Fives before the later knock-out rounds commenced. Four particularly strong pairs emerged in the Semi-finals. Erica Tadman and Kerry White won against Krystyna Vargas & Teresa Dunbar 15-8, whilst Marianne Rees and Anneke Wells defeated Joanna Doley and the young Charlotta Cooley, 15-10. The Final was very exciting, and was desperately close all the way. Anneke and Marianne held on to a narrow lead throughout most of the game, but were caught up right at the end. Kerry and Erica won eventually on sudden death, to take the Ladies Open Doubles title 15-14. This was Kerry's third successive title victory, and the second for the partnership.

The standard of play in the ladies game has been on the increase over the past few years, with many of the players now featuring in league matches ranging from the third to first Division.

Fifty players took part in the Mixed Championship. For the second year the "Wiseman" Mixed Fives rules were used - the male server was only allowed to remain serving for one rally before either swapping with his partner, or returning to the role of "cutter". In this way there was no possibility of the men trying to dominate play from the top step. The standard of play was incredible at times, and the results relied heavily on the performance of the ladies, since it was largely their responsibility under the new rules, to get cuts back and to rally on the top step.

The Final was played between William Powell & Erica Tadman, against Helen & James Toop. The second Final of the day also went to sudden death! The brother/sister combination ran out as winners: 15-14.

A great day of Fives, with all the Harrow courts full to capacity. Over sixty people took part across the two tournaments. Our thanks to the Harrow School Fives Club for allowing the event to take place on their courts.

Results:

H.M.E.W.

Constructed by Mike Fenn
18th July 2001
efa@etonfives.co.uk

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