Divisional Championships
Post date: May 16, 2021 9:33:14 PM
Division 1
Lawrence Stacey won his second tournament in 3 nights after following up on his victory in the Individual Handicap Singles tournament on Monday by claiming the title in the season ending Division 1 Championships event. Stacey has performed well in this event in recent times and this was his 3rd consecutive triumph in the event. His victory in the final was against twin Josh, who recently retained his Island Men’s Singles title and was won over 5 sets.
All of the seeded players expectedly made their way through to the latter stages of the event, however 6th seed Ryan Bichard was edged out in 5 entertaining sets by Jez Powell in the Group stage encounter, but still qualified as runner-up. One of the tougher groups included victory Lawrence along with Whistlers A team-mate Matthew Casey and fellow Division 1 Whistlers player Ben Sharp. Stacey and Casey would be the expected qualifiers from this group, however youngster Sharp evidenced his continued improvement with an excellent 5 set win over Jack Carrington winner Casey, eliminating him from the competition in the process.The match of the first round saw Josh Stacey edged past Bichard 11-9 in a high quality encounter, whilst Powell continued his strong run with a 4 set win over Craig Dunning.
Top seed Ben Foss was too strong for Sharp in the first Quarter final and won in straight sets, whilst Josh battled past 3rd seed Hainsworth in straight sets. Lawrence did likewise against Powell, whilst 2nd seed Phil Ogier defeated Gill in 4 sets in the final Quarter.
Josh and Foss had a topsy-turvy encounter which resulted in Josh taking the decisive 5th end 11-6, whilst on the adjacent table Lawrence came through against Ogier in 4 sets.
Lawrence was always on top in the final with leads of 1-0 and 2-1 and looked in cruise control in the 4th with some impressive shots opening up a commanding 7-3 lead. Josh battled back well to force deuce however and pinched it 14-12. The early stages of the decider were fairly tight, but Lawrence was too good on the night and clinched it 11-6.
Division 2
There were shocks aplenty in the Division Two tournament and the late withdrawal of top seed Jez Powell opened up the top half of the draw considerably. Second seed Kay Chivers took the honours, defeating a surprise finalist in the unseeded Ben Foote
After some good group stage matches, James Crocker played excellently in his first round draw and was a touch unfortunate to lose out to Keith Opie in 4 deuce games. On the adjacent table, Jonah Ingrouille was giving 4th seed Martin Sarre a scare, going 2-0 ahead before going down 3-2 too his experienced opponent, while 7th seeded Andy Ferbrache was beaten by unseeded Oscar Pearson. The match of the night was provided by 3rd seed Nye Matthew and 3rd Division Jayden Tucknott, with the two attackers producing a spectacular contest with barely a defensive shot in sight. The improving 14-year-old caused an upset by beating his more experienced opponent 13-11 in the deciding end. Caden Brouard couldn't quite join the action and was unfortunate not to be able to take one of the match points he had earned against Pauls Le Ber, going down 11-9 in the deciding end.
The quarter finals saw two more of the top seeds go by the wayside also as Sarre's night was ended by Keith Opie and Foote carried on his good form, digging deep against the pimpled rubber of Craig Dunning to progress through in 5 games. Despite a plucky effort, Tucknott's night was ended by Le Ber's pace and spin 3-0.
This meant that the first semi-final pitted the two unseeded players together and Foote came through a tight and tactical match against Opie, while Chivers beat Le Ber in straight games. Chivers secured her 8th 'Divisionals' title in the final, beating Foote 11-8, 11-3, 11-4.
Division 3
The absence of averages winner Stuart Sarre left this event wide open and it was the unexpected unseeded Lions player Erin Vaudin who came through a well contested field to take the title. Her victory in the final came against 6th seed Brandon Ferbrache in a youthful affair.
The group stages through up a number of unexpected results, with young Jayden Tucknott defeating top seed Shaun Mosley in 5 sets to emerge as winner of Group A and Max Burrows outpinning 2nd seed and team-mate Ken Falla in 4 sets to top Group B. Shane Cotter beat 3rd seed Erik Teteruck to top Group C, whilst both Vaudin and Mick Ingrouille emerged from Group E at the expense of 5th seed Carly Tucknott. Ingrouille in fact defeated the eventual champion in 4 sets during this early group stage match. Group F was thus one of only 2 groups where the seeded player won the group and even then finalist Ferbrache needed the full 5 sets to get past Shelby Timms and ensure this happened. Steve Martin was the other seed to emerge as winner as the fourth seed defeated both
Connor Powell and Mark Windsor.
Vaudin continued her push for the title with a plucky 5 set win over 2nd seed Falla in the first round, whilst Tucknott put Ingrouille out in 4 sets.
Vaudin followed up in the Quarters with a straight sets win over Martin, top seed Mosley beat Teteruck in 4 sets and Ferbrache overcame Cotter in 4 sets. The final match in this stage of the competition saw Burrows edge through in a might tussle with Tucknott. Tucknott had looked in control when leading 2-0, but plucky Burrows stuck in there and won the final 3 ends 11-7, 11-7, 12-10.
Having defeated seeds 2 and 3 in the prior rounds, Vaudin went one better in the semis when she beat Mosley in 4 sets. Ferbrache earned himself a matching 4 set win over Burrows in the other half of the draw.
Vaudin was never behind in the final and despite Ferbrache winning the second 11-8, Vaudin stormed through the 3rd end 11-4 before sneaking through the 4th end 12-10 to impressively earn the title.
Division 4
The fourth division trophy has frequently been won by up-and-coming junior players, with an illustrious list of past winners that have gone on to represent the island. 2021 was no exception as the final was competed between Ravenscroft Panthers teammates Tia and Shelby Timms. This time it was Shelby who came out on top, beating her older sister 11-8, 11-7, 11-2. Both had had diffcuult battles to reach the final, with Tia squeezing past Jenny Powell in 5 close games while Shelby beat the fast-improving Helen Barker. Barker and Powell had progressed through by also defeating improving young players Seb Jennings and Alex Paul.