GTTA Individual Handicap

With the Island Championships just around the corner, one of the final tournaments of the main league season was played on Monday night and Jez Powell added to his trophy collection with a win in the GTTA Individual Handicap Doubles. In a mixed entry of a variety of standard players from across the GTTA leagues the handicapping once again proved good as there was a large number of tight matches. The Gilson brothers, Ryan and Callum were showing good form in progressing through the group and knockout stages, but both exited the competition in the semi-finals to Powell and Erin Vaudin respectively.The final was a battle of experience vs youth as the 2nd Division Lions player was pushed hard for the win by 3rd Division Erin Vaudin. The tournament is played to the old-style 21-point system to allow more flexibility in handicapping and this suited Vaudin as she received a 13-point advantage on her higher-ranked opponent. After a good start with some powerful forehand attacking strokes, she won the first game on deuce but then the experience of Powell was crucial in performing a comeback. The veteran used his disguised spin serves to good effect and countered Vaudin’s attacks successfully, with the final score being 19-21, 22-20, 21-16.

Results