Defending champions reign supreme

It was a case of ‘as you were’ at the Berkshire Junior Closed Tennis Tournament on Saturday as, in the boys section any way, five of the six defending champions were successful in retaining their titles.

The only change was in the under 16s where Chris Drakeford-Lewis beat Ben Guana (Maidenhead) who had put out the 2007 winner James Ireland (Bisham) in the semi-final.

It was a good day for the Drakeford-Lewis family, from Sonning, with Chris picking up four titles and sister Sophie two, including brother and sister combining in the under 14 mixed event.

Caroline Rosamond (Caversham) in the under 18 singles was the only girl to retain a title.

While the singles finals were all straight sets victories, the main excitement was kept for two of the doubles events where, after two-hour battles in both the under 18 boys and under 14 girls matches, final set tie-breaks were needed to determine the winners.

Keiron Muir and Ben Smith (Windsor), and Gabriella Chavez and Katrina Smith (Charters) were the winners.

Prizes for the winners of this Maidenhead Advertiser-sponsored tournament were presented by Berkshire LTA vice-president and Wimbledon member John Dunning- ham, who has played for and supported the county for many years.