Father and son secure three titles at Shiplake’s finals day

A FATHER and son secured three titles at Shiplake Tennis Club’s finals day held at their Memorial Avenue courts last month.

George Brind won the men’s singles title while his son, Oscar, took the honours in both the U11 and U12 boys’ events.

The men’s singles final saw George Brind defeat Nigel Richardson. Brind was on top form, using his sweeping topspin to cover all corners of the court, winning in two sets.

On the next-door court, a tight veteran mixed doubles match saw Jim Weatherston and Brenda Nearchou secure the third set, played championship tie-break, to secure the title against Shane Renders and Sandra Greenslade.

Edward Cary defeated Freddie Thomas to win the U14 boys’ singles with both players exhibiting some good groundstrokes. Oscar Brind and Ollo Chamberlain fought out two singles finals — the U11s and U12s — with Oscar winning both events.

Oscar Brind and Chamberlain then teamed up in the U12 doubles but they narrowly lost out in three sets to Seb Spiers and Ben Peiris.

The U18 doubles saw a tense two-set competition between defending U18 singles champion Alex Stronach and Freddie Thomas who lost 7-5, 6-4 to Joe Cawthorne and Zac Fisher.

In the ladies’ doubles Sandra Greenslade and Katie Binning, both grandmothers, lost out to Zoe Richardson and Lucy Blomfield. The technical knowhow and experience of Greenslade and Binning made for a good match, but in the end the power and speed of the younger pair prevailed in two competitive sets.

The men’s doubles saw a royal battle as Mark Cranstoun and Phil Dombey defeated Jim Weatherston and Shane Renders in two sets. The U14 doubles saw the boys’ duo of Noah Cottam and Alessandro Dubina defeating the girls pair of Freya Weatherston and Ava Douglas. The boys won the close first set before powering through to take the second. In the U18 singles, defending champion Alex Stronach defeated 15-year-old Jake Benster. Stronach took the first set 6-3 and seemed to have the second easily in the bag, but a fine fight back from Benster saw the two of them facing a tense tie-break. Stronach managed to keep his composure and hold Benster off to win the match. The U14 girls’ singles saw Georgina Gubbins defeat Ava Douglas in straight sets.

In the mixed doubles plate, Shane Reders and Jenny Berger defeated Sandra Greenslade and David Blomfield in a close match. Greenslade and Blomfield won the tie-break to take the first set. Renders and Berger took second set with the final set being decided on a tie-break with Renders and Berger taking the honours. In the mixed doubles, Charlie Ferber and Caroline Edwards defeated Nigel Richardson and Miriam Stroud in a closely fought match in two sets.