Tightest for years

THE Guernsey Schools C. G. Arrow competition held at the Former Girls' Grammar School tennis courts produced some of the closest games seen for years. Some 140 matches were played over the eight days and the most interesting occurred in the 26-strong open section.

In the round robin stage, Nick Mahoney started impressively with a fine win over Alistair Higgins and he took this through to the quarter-finals where he made David Knight work hard for his 6-3 win.

In the other half of the draw, Stefano Rizutto made his way easily into the final, dropping just six games on the way.

The final, however, was a physical and mental battle. The first set flowed with good, attacking tennis.

Knight kept to his game pattern of mixing his slice and top-spin returns along with good movement to the net.

At 6-6 and a tie-break, Knight took the set 7-4 thanks to two unforced errors by Rizutto.

Knight dominated the first three games of the second but Rizutto fought back well to take the next six games to level the match and force a third-set tie-break.

Knight took an early lead as he came to the net on every opportunity but again Rizutto fought back with some good passing shots but Knight held on to win 10-7.

Daniel Thomas played well throughout the tournament to take third place from Gareth Grand.

In the girls' section, Charlotte Koller dominated the round-robin section but had a very close match in the final, in which she met Catriona Rizutto.

The first set was dominated by baseline rallies and Rizutto seemed unable to change the pattern of the game, Koller taking the first set 6-2.

The second was completely different. Rizutto moved her opponent around well, bringing her to the net as often as possible and then executing some clever passing shots.

At 5-5, the game could have gone either way but Island Games medallist Koller held on to take the set 7-5.

With three remaining players all taking matches from each other it was decided on countback. Lorraine Koller played excellent tennis to take third place from her more experienced opponent Vicky Naylor, 6-2, 7-6.

In the 12-and-under section, all four seeds reached the semi-final. However, Brandon Harrison pushed Alistair Higgins hard in the quarter-finals before going down 4-2.

The final, between Higgins and Harry Southwell, went to a third set tie-break.

Higgins edged the first 5-3, with both playing some excellent tennis which was appreciated by the good crowd watching. Southwell responded well to take the second set comfortably.

It went down to the final tie-break which Higgins won on a net-cord shot. Paul Cave played well to take third place from Michael Trotter.

The plate final was won by Seoirse Lee 7-6 from Michael Jimenez.

The latter player was three years younger and shows much promise for the future.

In the girls' competition, Megan Hearse held match point at one stage from Joanna Dyer in the round-robin stage. Unfortunately, she could not repeat the performance in the final and lost 4-0, 4-0. Abbie Bisson was third.

The quarter-finals of the 15-and-under section had a few surprises with Chris Paluch beating an out-of-sorts Nick Mahoney and Adam Potter won the battle of the two left-handers against Alistair Higgins. Potter continued his winning streak to the final but he came up against the favourite Stefano Rizutto, the latter deservedly winning 6-1. Gareth Grand took third place from Paluch.

The plate final was the highlight of this section and was between Michael Gomes and Andrew Hearse. Gomes took the first set 6-3, but Hearse hit back with more depth and quality hitting to take the second 7-5.

Gomes kept his composure into the third set tie-break and just edged it 11-9.

Catriona Rizutto dominated the girls, taking the final 6-0, 6-0 over Vicky Naylor. Lorraine Koller took third place from a much improved Miranda Knight.

The last match of the week was the open plate final between Alistair Higgins and Philip Touzeau. Touzeau, back after six weeks out with a broken arm, improved as the match went on. Higgins took the first set 6-2 but Touzeau grabbed the second 6-3 to set up an intriguing third which Higgins won 8-6.

Other players who deserve mention are Daniel Knight, Tristan Naylor and Douglas Edwards.

*Anyone wishing to find out more about short or full tennis should contact Geoff Martel on 253009.