New junior tournament is fiercely contested (From Barry And District News)

New junior tournament is fiercely contested

A NEW singles tournament for junior members of Barry Athletic Tennis Club, sponsored by Chris Evans of Welsh Windows, a long-standing member of the club, took place recently.

There were 25 entrants for the two-week competition, with ages ranging from 11 to 17.

The first week was a qualifying round to find two players to join the six seeded players in the second week.

The matches played were very competitive and special recognition must be given to the match played between David Marsh and Ben Bryl.

The eventual winning qualifiers were Ben and Matthew Blackie who joined Daniel and Luke Sidaway, Gareth Blyth, Chris Richards, Luke Brody-Miles and Lewis Jones in the quarter-finals.

The club is particularly proud of the standard of tennis played by its juniors, a good example of this was the epic three-set battle between Lewis Jones and Luke Brody-Miles with Lewis being triumphant.

The semi-final line-up was Lewis up against Daniel Sidaway and the two left-handers of Gareth Blyth and Luke Sidaway against each other, the Sidaways winning through to face each other in the final.

A well-supported, hot day for the final saw the brothers battle hard to win the coveted trophy and prize money on offer. Daniel took the first set but Luke made a good start to the second.

However, Daniel proved too strong and took the match in straight sets.

The club would like to thank Chris Evans for his sponsorship and umpiring of matches, and to Sue Brophy and Harry Morgan for organising the qualifying matches. Also, the enthusiasm of the entrants of the tournament and hope they enjoyed the competition.