Youngster gives champ her toughest ever final

THE women's singles final of the Guernsey closed championships turned out to be a classic with Jo Robinson, the dominant force in the local game for the last two decades, finally overcoming Catrina Rizzuto. Robinson took two-and-a-half-hours to defeat the 14-year-old in a three-set thriller at the Guernsey Tennis Centre and the final will go down as one of the most thrilling matches played in the island for many a year.

Robinson has won the competition every time that she has been available to enter, which is a staggering 19 times.

But the 46-year-old tennis coach was full of praise for her young charge's performance in the final.

'It was hard work,' said the champion.

'It was more than close, I was very lucky.

'She was mentally very strong and I was very impressed with the way that she kept coming at me.

'She played it absolutely right and she deserved everything she got and more. She's worked very hard this summer.

'It would be nice to have a horde of Catrinas coming through. It's good for Guernsey women tennis.'

Rizzuto said the match, which due to rain had to be moved onto an indoor court, was as exciting for the players as the spectators.

'It was good and really close,' said the Grammar School student.

'I didn't start off that well in the first set but I kept coming back. The switch to inside did help me, as I prefer the surface and it was a bit windy outside.'

The first set went to Rizzuto's more experienced opponent 6-1, but then the rain came down and with the move to the covered hard court, she took the lead in the second. Robinson responded by forcing the set into a tie-break in which she held two match points.

Her younger opponent rallied to save the match points and to win the set 7-6.

The momentum stayed with Rizzuto into the third as she took a three-love lead, but this acted as a spur for Robinson who turned up the pressure to take what seemed like a winning lead of 5-3.

But Rizzuto again upped her game to square things at five games all and then at six-all.

Another tie-break was required, this time to decide the match and it was point-for-point stuff until Robinson finally edged clear by the required two at 7-5.

Rizzuto found consolation for that defeat when she and her partner, Katie Walters, took the women's doubles crown by defeating the experienced pairing of Denny Griffiths and Debbie Lowe in the final.

In another hard-fought final the score was 6-3, 6-3.

Earlier in the day, Walters had beaten fellow junior Jo Dyer in the women's B final and Tim Creasey claimed the men's equivalent when he overcame 15-year-old Michael Privett 6-3, 6-0.

Attention now switches to the men's A, the men's doubles, the mixed doubles and the over-45 competitions which conclude this weekend.