Dominant Ogier wins four in a row

PAT OGIER has made it four Generali Worldwide Guernsey Closed Champ-ionship titles on the trot. The rising star, who turned 19 last month, tore apart island captain Chris Hickling in Sunday's final at the Guernsey Tennis Centre. He won 6-0, 6-0.

'I served very well, it was some of the best serving I've ever done,' said Ogier.

'Chris's serve never really got going and it affected the rest of his game. The serve is the most important shot in tennis.

'It was a bit unfortunate that Chris didn't get going.'

Ogier is off to Nottingham University at the end of the month to study English and to join their prestigious tennis programme.

He took care of Jimmy Wood 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals before he met Hickling, who was naturally disappointed with his performance in the final.

'There's not much to talk about,' said the New Zealander.

'It wasn't just my serve, it was the whole focus. I didn't get going.

'It would have been hard to beat him, but I am capable of giving him a good game. But no excuses, he played well.'

Hickling did not leave the competition empty-handed though.

With his partner, Wood he won the men's doubles after they beat the father-and-son team of Ian and Nico Robinson 6-1, 6-1 in the final.

In the semi-finals the Robinsons had put out the second seeds, Ogier and his brother, Tom, in a tightly fought match 1-6, 6-4, 7-5, while Wood and Hickling had defeated the junior pairing of Alistair Higgins and Johnny Taylor.

Hickling also went home with the mixed doubles crown when he and Madonna McNichol just got the better of Andy Hart and Louise Inder 6-2 in the deciding set.

'We've won the men's doubles for the last couple of years and we've always been hard to beat,' said Hickling.

'We were a little bit too solid for them.

'I enjoyed winning the mixed as well with Madonna. I lost a couple of years ago to Ian and Jo Robinson so it's good to get my name on that one.'

In the women's singles, Catriona Rizzuto won her first title by beating fellow junior Jo Dyer 7-5, 6-4 in a two-hour battle of high-standard tennis.

The women's doubles final was a contest between the experienced Ros Willard and Inder and the junior pairing of Megan Hearse and Dyer.

The match was very close with the senior pairing winning through 6-3 in the deciding set.

Hart had some consolation by winning the men's singles B event 6-4, 6-3 against Higgins in another close encounter.

'The outstanding feature of the tournament was that in all the finals, five competitors were under 16,' said Guernsey Tennis' Ian Robinson.

'That's a very positive statement for the health of Guernsey tennis.'