Day 1 by your roving reporter – Lucy Beecroft…
The 2014 Northumbria County Closed got into full swing tonight with players from all categories starting to battle it out for the titles.
Top seed and current County champ, Dave Barnett sailed through to the next round of the Mens A event with a 3-0 (11/6, 11/5, 11/6) win over youngster Dan Wareing, Wareing put up a good fight against the top seed but Barnett was too strong. Dave will now play Jamie Todd for a place in the semi finals. 3/4 seed Paul Lord is also still on track for at least the semis with a 3-0 (11/4, 11/6, 11/4) win over David Jackson and will now play either Chris Wiggins or Richard Elliott to try and meet his seeding. Number 2 seed Liam Gutcher cruised through to the next round with a 3-0 win over Matt Robinson, he will now play Mick Smith in his second round! Matt Hardy also moves into the second round with a good 3-0 win over James Wilson, he plays Dan Ward tomorrow!
Young Michael Mattimore had a fairly comfortable first game in the Mens B event with a 3-0 (11/8, 11/4, 11/4) win over Westoes Ryan Hall. After a tight first game Michael settled down and managed to close out the next two with more ease. Top seed in the B event Alex Robertson will take on Matthew Cooper tomorrow in his first round.
Only 3 matches in the Mens C event took place tonight as most of the action kicks off tomorrow with the top 2 seeds playing early afternoon.
The Mens O45 started tonight with two matches between Gary Law and Istvan Soos and Tim Shields and Jimmy Tosney. Law and Tosney both came out on top and will play their second round tomorrow. The top 2 seeds from Tynemouth, Glenn Ward and Russell Hunter will begin their quest for victory tomorrow as they face Tony Hedley and Mike Paul.
The ladies O40’s saw a last minute draw change today as top seed Sue Beecroft pulled out with injury, we did say it was the battle of the injuries!! Gilly Milly however was still set to play Alison Todd where she came out on top with a 3-0 win. The other match tonight saw Dawn Ward and Elizabeth Dodds have quite a close one but Dawn managed to get the win 3-1.
Tomorrow we’ll be able to witness the brand new doubles event in the county closed and I’m sure it’s going to be a good one! With 14 pairs ready to start the craziness we can’t wait for the fun to start!
The first matches start at 12pm and run through to 8.30pm tomorrow and streaming is still available for Court 5! We look forward to seeing you all there!
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