Hockley TTC 2023 Annual Championships – Saturday 23rd September

With the inaugural Ladies Final already completed and Alwine Jarvis incorporated as champion the remaining five finals took place bright and early on Saturday morning. Matt Stringer was featuring in two finals and looking to become our Singles Champion for a fourth time.

First up was the doubles final between Gary Beck and Ollie George against Graham Gregory and perennial winner Matt Stringer. Gary, Ollie and Matt all had a second final to look forward to after this. With Matt’s record in these championships he and Graham would probably have been considered to have been the slight favourites for this match but in a tight first set it was Graham and Ollie who edged it 12/10. Another close set followed but this time it was the turn of Matt and Graham to level the scores with another 12/10 scoreline. It was apparent at this stage that the serves of Ollie and Matt were proving more effective against Gary and Graham respectively and this was repeated in sets three and four as first Gary and Ollie romped home 11/4 before Graham and Matt edged the fourth set 11/9. All down to the final set then and there was nothing in it all the way to 9-9 before Gary and Ollie took the honours. A good, close, exciting match to start the finals.

Gary Beck & Ollie George beat Graham Gregory & Matt Stringer

12/10 10/12 11/4 9/11 11/9

Next up was the Junior Plate which saw last year’s Junior Champion Kris Chankov take on Perry Lazell, who has only been with the club for a few months. After the first set which went easily to Kris 11/5 this turned into quite a battle and quite a contrast in styles. Kris looking to attack and bring his strong backhand into play whilst Perry, really keen to attack with his forehand, but also displaying some strong defensive qualities returning the ball from well behind the table at times to keep himself in the rally. Kris took the second set just, 12/10, but all credit to Perry who eventually got himself back in the match winning a marathon  third set 18/16. The fourth set was just as close and just when it looked a fifth set was inevitable Kris took the match 12/10.

Kris Chankov beat Perry Lazell

11/5 12/10 16/18 12/10

The Junior final could well have been billed as David v Goliath as young William Evesham stepped up to take on the, by comparison, very experienced Ollie George, a league player for some time now despite his own young age. Unfortunately for William he couldn’t find his own version of David’s sling shot to damage Ollie and went down in straight sets 11/6, 11/2, 11/6. Nevertheless William did enough to suggest that he can be as successful as Ollie has become displaying good movement around the table, good serves, and good attacking shots. One to watch for the future.

Ollie George beat William Evesham

11/6 11/2 11/6

The Singles Plate between Gary Beck and Roger Sherman turned out to be probably the closest and most exciting match of the day. A great contrast again in styles with Roger looking to bring in his big forehand smash at every opportunity whilst Gary was more defensive, resolute even, waiting patiently for an opportunity to attack. This was Gary’s second final, having already won the doubles with Ollie, so not a bad achievement for someone in his first season with the club,and he got off to the best start coming back from behind to edge the first set 15/13. Fortunes swung back and forth over the next two sets with Roger levelling 11/5 only to lose the third set by the same score. Roger managed to up his game again in set four and levelled again 11/7 and if we were looking for a nailbiting fifth set to decide the winner then we certainly got it! In this set Gary brilliantly demonstrated his ability to return Roger’s big attacking shots and although Roger got off to a great start leading 5-1 and then 10-7 the errors began to creep in and Gary drew level 10-10. During this run he managed to produce probably the shot of the day returning one of Roger’s smashes from well behind the right hand side of the table, looping it back high and diagonally, landing it just over the net before bouncing far away from Roger’s right hand side and out of reach to give Gary the point. At this point the excitement still hadn’t finished with match points being gained and lost in quick succession, together with some fortunate nets and edges before Gary scraped home 18/16. A great match and a great way for Gary to win his second final.

Gary Beck beat Roger Sherman

15/13 5/11 11/5 7/11 18/16

This brought us to the main event the Singles final between Matt Stringer and Dan Patynski. Already a three times winner Matt got off to a strong start against Dan who never really got going in this set losing 11/3. The second set was a complete contrast as Dan stormed back to level the match with an 11/6 win. At this stage Matt probably realised he needed to up his game and he did that in the third winning 11/6. The fourth set was close all the way up to 8-8 and just when we were looking forward to a fifth set Matt went 9-8 up, and a fortuitous net and then an edge gave him the match 11/8. Well done to our four times Champion!

Matt Stringer beat Dan Patynski

11/3 6/11 11/6 11/8

All in all  a great Finals day and well done to all those who took part, our volunteer umpires and everyone who came to watch. See you all again next year!

Paul Strutt

Chairman

Hockley TTC

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