Aces impress on court at the Cambridgeshire Festival of Tennis

More than 200 tennis players of all ages took part in the annual Cambridgeshire Festival of Tennis at the end of the summer holidays.

They played in junior age groups from eight to 18, with an open and even men’s 40-50 section.

A further 48 contested the mini red team event for 12 club teams and 36 took part in the orange event, which attracted nine teams.

The week-long event, played at the Cambridge Lawn Tennis Club and the David Lloyd Centre, finished with a fun team competition and a barbecue for all players involved in county training during the last year.

This saw younger players paired with older ones to create a team atmosphere.

During the week there were 27 events and a total of 507 matches, plus 124 red team matches and 108 orange team ones, and everyone was still smiling at the end – even referees Sue Rich and Tim Arthur!

The outstanding players, who impressed with their skills, amassing most of the trophies between them, and excellent on-court demeanour and sportsmanship during the week were Isabelle Havard, who won the ladies’ open and 18-and-under girls’ singles, and Seth Briggs-Williams, who won the boys’ 16 and 18-and-under singles, and 18-and-under doubles with Christof Schaertlin Coffey.

He also reached the men’s open semi-finals and then paired up with Havard to win the final event of the tournament: the open mixed doubles.

Not to be outdone, 11-year-old May Havard also won two trophies: the girls’ 11-and-under event and the girls’ 14-and-under event.

The sportsperson of the week was Christof Schaertlin Coffey, who had to play Briggs-Williams in both the 16 and 18 singles finals and ended up as runner-up in both, but did win the doubles with his conqueror.

The outstanding day was when the boys’ 12-and-under semi-finals took place and these two matches were the closest of the week with all four boys playing some fantastic tennis and showed good sportsmanship to fly the flag for the county.

Harry Voss beat Jianzhou Mei 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 in one semi-final and Leo Runciman defeated Arnas Simkus 4-6, 7-6 (9), 11-9 in the other.

The four boys, together with Mason Harrigan, had played for the Cambridge Club in the Premier National League Finals earlier in July when they came fourth in the country – a great team.

The men’s open was won by Pawel Safuryn, who followed up his success in the Cambridge Open tournament in July. He beat Ben Clarke in an entertaining final 6-4, 6-7, 10-6. The ladies’ open saw Isabelle Havard beat Alice McGee in another very good match 7-5, 6-4.

Full results: Men’s Open - Pawel Safuryn beat Ben Clarke 6-4, 6-7, 10-6; Ladies Open - Isabelle Havard beat Alice McGee 7-5, 6-4; Men’s 40/50 - Louis Lats beat Andrew Voss 7-5, 3-6, 10-8; 18 and under boys - Seth Briggs Williams beat Christof Schaertlin Coffey 7-6 (5), 3-6, 10-0; 18 and under girls - Isabelle Havard beat Gabby Zailer-Fletcher 6-3, 6-1; 16 and under boys - Seth Briggs Williams beat Christof Schaertlin Coffey 6-3, 6-3; 16 and under girls - Sophie Johnstone beat Millie Hansgate 6-4, 2-0 retired; 14 and under boys - Marton Howe beat Zach Tabaczynski 6-1, 4-0 retired; 14 and under girls - May Havard beat Florence Pritchard-Gordon 2-6, 6-2, 10-3; 12 and under boys - Harry Voss beat Leo Runciman 6-0, 6-0; 12 and under girls - Ellie Barker beat Thomasina Boothman 6-4, 6-2; 11 and under boys - Edward Fisk beat Albert Xu 6-1, 6-2; 11 and under girls - May Havard beat Zoe Petheram 6-4, 4-6, 10-7; 10 and under boys - Martin Xu beat Beau Martinez-McCune 4/0; 10 and under girls - Aditi Sharma beat Jessica Sacky 4-0; 9 and under boys - Beau Martinez-McCune beat Yanyi Wang 7-1, 7-0; 9 and under girls - Anamaya Kumar beat Bella Lin 7-2, 7-6; 8 and under boys - Louis Garner beat Ajax Millwood 10-2; 8 and under girls - Saya Bowditch beat Lillian Ke 10-7, 10-8; Red team event – winners Huntingdon, runners up David Lloyd; Orange team event - winners, Cambridge LTC, runners-up Huntingdon; Men’s open doubles - Marton Howe-CJ Kindred beat Chad Richard-Jonny Cross 4-3, 4-3; Ladies open doubles - Teresa Catlin-Alice McGee beat Lydia Sivirentsava-Gaby Z-Fletcher 6-1,6-1; Mixed open doubles - Seth Briggs-Williams-Issie Havard beat Chad Richard-Laurie Cruickshank 4-0,1-4, 10-6; Boys 18 doubles - Seth Briggs-Williams-Christof beat Rapha Tan-Ryan Parkins 4-2, 4-3 (8); Girls 18 doubles - Lydia Sivirentsava-Gabby Z-Fletcher beat Florence P-Gordon-Sophie Tjurina 4-1,4-1; Boys 14 doubles - Marton Howe-Zach Tabaczynski beat Nathan Paszylk-Herbie Morris 4-1, 4-2; Girls 14 doubles - Millie Hansgate-Florence P-Gordon beat Ellie Barker-Sophie Johnstone 3-4(5), 4-1,13-11; Mixed 14 doubles - Herbie Morris-Millie Hansgate beat Jack Seabourne-Sophie Johnstone 4-3 (5), 4-1.