Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Youngsters serve up county glory
Canterbury
Two youngsters from Canterbury Tennis Club helped Kent 10-andunder boys win the National County Cup in Sunderland.
Benjamin Gusic- Wan and Michael Nkereuwem were in the team which qualified in Chichester and then won four matches at the finals.
Gusic- Wan, Kent’s No. 1 player, won all his singles for the loss of just two games while Nkereuwem and Sevenoaks’ Benjamin Walker lost their only doubles on a championship tie-break.
Kent saw off Avon, Middlesex and Northamptonshire before beating Hertfordshire 4-0 in the championship match.
Canterbury were also represented in the girls’ tournament, with Henrietta Jeer helping Kent finish runners-up.
The girls beat Northumberland, Hertfordshire and Leicestershire before going down to Lancashire in the final.
Canterbury head coach Simon Grieve said: “It’s a fantastic honour to represent your county and for them to do so well at the National Championships finals is Benjamin Gusic-wan, Canterbury coach Tom Samson, Michael Nkereuwem and Henrietta Jeer at the National County Cup
an amazing achievement.”
Canterbury’s Tiegan Aitken reached the semi-finals of the singles and doubles at the Larnaca Open in Cyprus.
She came through a gruelling three-hour quarter-final in the singles before losing in the last-four to Greece’s Gabrielle Charalampidi, who also knocked her out of the doubles.
Aitken, who trains daily at Polo Farm, will move into the top 500 juniors in the world as a result of the points she won at this 18-andunder ITF event.
To join the 250 adults and 300 children who play tennis at Polo Farm every week, call 01227 781505 or visit www.polofarm. org/cltc
Canterbury Tennis Club have introduced new sessions for adults looking to take up the game.
These include a coached course on Wednesday ( 7- 8pm) and drop-in sessions on Monday (7.309pm) and Wednesday (8-9.30pm).
For more information, call Sharon Chastang on 07913 554592. Toye lost both of their rubbers in the same way to lose 3-1.
The Mixed 1 team fared much better, breezing past Sevenoaks Mixed 3 in Division 2B with relative ease.
Peter Elsden/anne Gibbs and Danielle Miles/ben Keighley won all their rubbers in straight sets and only lost 17 games between them to record a 4-0 win.
Bay’s mixed veterans continued their excellent form with another 4-0 win at Crescent thanks to Ian Cooke/anne Gibbs and Mark Townsend/sue Toye.
The Midweek Ladies’ 1st team won their second Kent League Division 1 match at home to Bearsted 1 by three games.
Anne Gibbs/sue Toye and Sarah Pout/kay Mileham were the victorious team 38-35.
The Mixed 4 team played host to Trottiscliffe in Division 7C and produced some fine tennis to take the match 3-1 thanks to Thompson/debbie Holden and Bryan Packham/sarah Pout.
In the Dover & District League, Mixed 1 beat Hythe 1 7-1 at home in a marathon match far tighter than the score suggests.
Peter Elsden/caroline Packer and Ian Cooke/danielle Miles were the winning pairs.
Herne Bay Men’s 3 travelled to Chilham and again triumphed 7-1 in sets. Bryan Packham/ Jason Hollingworth won all four sets and lost only five games in the process while Gary Smith/dave Lawrence won three of their four.
Men’s 1 took on Knoll and had a convincing six sets to two win.
Alex Kazekeos/graham Miles won 6-1, 6-4 and the second 6-1, 6-3, while Ian Cooke/matt Newman beat the second pair 6-2, 6-2.
The mixed 1sts overcame neighbours Canterbury 2 with Peter Elsden/ Louise Tucker dropping just six games, while Graham Miles/danielle Miles won 6-3, 7-5 and 6-3, 6-4.
Alex Kazekeos and Ben Keighley tasted glory in the Canterbury Open men’s doubles tournament.
Kazekeos/keighley won the quarter-final 6-1, 6-1 to go through to face the top seeds in the semi-final.
They edged through 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 to reach the final in which they won the first set 7-5 and the second 7-6 after whitewashing the tie-break.
Kazekeos also lost the consolation singles final 6-2, 6-3.