Junior County Closed – 2010 – Northumbria Squash

JUNIOR COUNTY CLOSED 2010.

This years Junior County Closed took place over the weekend 25^th/26^th of September at The Northumberland Club in Jesmond. Again the event was sponsored by DB GLAZIERS and there was a big entry with 95 players.

With such a big entry matches started very early with one match completed before 8am on the Sunday morning!

The first event to be decided was the mixed U9 event, played in a round robin format the eventual winner was last years finalist Max Forster who beat Harry Little in the final 3 games to 0.

Laura Neill played in 2 events, the girls U11 and U13’s, she won them both without dropping a game! This is a great achievement and she has recently been invited to an U11 England squad which shows the level she is reaching at such a young age.

The boys U11 seen Joe Wareing capture an amazing hat-trick of U11 titles, he comfortably won all of his games and beat Tynemouth’s Matthew Walsh in the final, Walsh had upset number 2 seed Lewis Follin in the semi-final.

In the Boys U13 event Tynemouths newly crowned Regional Champion Jamie Todd was a big favourite, he coasted into the final where he met number 2 seed Michael Mattimore, it was 3-0 to the dominant Todd but Mattimore will return next year in the same event and will take some stopping.

The Girls U15 was a round robin of 5 players and it came down to the very last match to decide the victor. This match was between Emma Haley and Charlotte Cooper, they had shared victories over each other in recent times so it was always going to be close. In the end Haley played just that bit better in the tight situations and took the title wining 3-1.

The Boys U15 event had the biggest entry and also the most drama. The top 2 seeds Simon Grabham and Elliott Carr failed to make it to the final, they lost to Lewis Wake and Andrew Walsh respectively. The final in the end was contested between the 3^rd and 4^th seeds, Andrew Walsh and Dan Wareing. The final stayed in character with the whole U15 event, it was so close and swayed one way then the other, Wareing led all of the way until the determined Walsh played an almost error free fifth game to take the title winning 3-2.

The girls U17 was won by the always impressive Lucy Beecroft, Beecroft tops the national rankings at U15 level and was too strong even for Maria Bainbridge who herself is amongst the best in the country, in the end 3-0 to Beecroft.

The Boys U17 had a wideopen feel about it with around 6 players in with a realistic chance of winning, however in the end it was the top 2 seeds who made it to the final but neither smoothly with many 3-2 and 3-1 matches along the way. The top seed was Elliott Park and he played Simon Grabham who had survived a match point against him in the quarter-finals against Elliott Carr. Park lived up to his seeding beating Grabham in 3 close games.

The Girls U19 event was a 3 way round robin of a very high standard. Sam Ward was top seed and had to beat off the challenge of her younger opponents Lucy Beecroft and Maria Bainbridge. Ward in the end did this very impressively winning both matches 3-0 and taking the title.

The last event was the boys U19 event, again the top 2 seeds made it through to the final which was a repeat of last years close U17 final. The finalists were Harry Carr and Cole Windscheffel, again it was the closest of finals and this time Carr gained revenge taking the title winning 3-2.

Click here for completed draws.

MU9 – Max Forster bt Harry Little

GU11 – 1st Laura Neill, 2nd Erin Vitty

BU11 – Joe Wareing bt Matthew Walsh

plate – Dylan Jenkinson bt Harry Little

GU13 – Laura Neill bt Josie Barker

plate – Alex Carr bt Tegan Younger

BU13 – Jamie Todd bt Michael Mattimore

plate – Cameron Hamiltonbt Tim Blake

GU15 – 1st Emma Haley, 2nd Charlotte Cooper

BU15 – Andrew Walsh bt Dan Wareing

plate- Jamie Todd bt Josh Askew