Cambridgeshire Festival of Tennis returns with almost 250 players after Covid-19 disruption
The week-long Cambridgeshire Festival of Tennis returned late last month with a big number of entrants after recent Covid-19 disruptions.
With competitors ranging from the age of six to 72, a total of 245 players featured across the 32 events that were played at Cambridge Lawn Tennis Club and David Lloyd Club Cambridge.
It proved to be a memorable few days for Pawel Safuryn, who followed up his success in the Men’s Open Singles by also coming out on top in the Men’s Open Doubles.
The David Lloyd player’s solo triumph came at the expense of Christof Schaertlin-Coffey, although he was pushed all the way to a deciding tie-break in a 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 victory.
He then teamed up with Fulbourn Tennis Club’s Nick Ghaznavi to good effect in the doubles.
However, there was still plenty of reason for Swiss player Schaertlin-Coffey to celebrate after he won the Boys’ 18 and Under event, beating Ryan Parkins 6-4, 6-1 in the final, and then teamed up with Seth Briggs-Williams to win the 18 and Under Doubles.
In the female events, Cambridge Lawn Tennis Club’s Gabby Zailer-Fletcher, Sophie Johnstone and Olivia Kaser all enjoyed impressive weeks, sharing seven trophies between them.
Zailer-Feltcher won the 18 Girls’ Singles, beating club-mate Johnstone in the final 6-3, 7-5, but the latter bounced back to win the 16 Girls’ Singles by overcoming Kaser in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
She also overcome May Havard to lift the 14 and Under title via a 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 comeback victory against May Havard.
Kaser’s title came in the 12 and Under section as she dominated Zoe Petheram 6-0, 6-2, while Zailer-Fletcher paired up with Lydia Sivirentsava to win the 18 Girls’ Doubles. Johnstone and Ellie Barker won the 14 Doubles and then triumphed with Harry Voss to win the 14 Mixed Doubles.
Elsewhere, the host club’s Issie Havard won the Ladies’ Open, beating Neha Kibria 6-1, 6-2 in the final. In the Women’s Doubles, the pairing of Teresa Catlin (Cambridge LTC) and Ali McGee (Foxton Tennis Club) came out on top.
The week started off with inter-club red and orange team events. In total 10 teams participated in the red section and were divided into two tiers. Tier One was won by David Lloyd, who were made up of Daisy Rogers, Finn Voss, Eric Selcuk and Lavanya Gupta, with Cambridge Academy second and CLTC third.
Tier Two was won by the CLTC squad of Joseph Kingsley, Qianyue Zhang, Axel Thomas and Andre Camacho with City of Peterborough second and Fulbourn third.
Seven teams played in the orange event which again was split into two tiers. In Tier One the CLTC team of Ajax Millwood, Megann Coliof, Dhruv Rajpal and Zach Smith won the event with David Lloyd second and Chatteris and COPTC third.
In the Tier Two event CLTC’s team of Noam De Groot, Philip Ungureanu, Millie Radivojevic and Sophia Pritchard-Gordon won the event with David Lloyd second and Cambridge Academy third.
