New Champs Crowned at 2025 Tennis Club Championships
Our 2025 Tennis Club Championship finals took place last weekend and the players treated us to some excellent matches – played at a high standard and in good spirit. A record 12 finals were played with a sizeable crowd of spectators viewing throughout.
Open Finals
The Ladies Singles saw contrasting styles of baseline placement and consistency from Debra Schmidt against power and pace from Sophie Cable. Debra was seeking a 3rd title in her 4th consecutive final. Power proved decisive this year as Sophie completed a 6-1 / 6-2 victory in an enthralling match of very few unforced errors. A superb achievement by Sophie in winning her first singles championship at the Club. Congratulations Sophie!
The Open Singles final saw hitherto undefeated James Keothavong in the final for the 8th year running – an incredible record! This year he faced our recently crowned Racketlon champion – Ryan Bezer – who had a significant age advantage and was match ready. Ryan broke James in the first game, then held to lead 2-0, only for James to hit back. The 4th game swung back and forth with 4 deuces, as James clinched it to level at 2 games all. This took its toll on James as Ryan broke again in the 5th and 7th games, taking the first set 6-2.
In the second set, Ryan broke again in the 3rd game and forged ahead to 3-1, only for James to level again at 3 games all. Deep and accurate ground shots ensued, and impressive court coverage from both men. The 7th game proved decisive as Ryan broke once more, after being 30-0 down, and then held to lead 5-3. James would not relinquish his crown quietly, but Ryan would not be suppressed. He closed out the match on his 5th match point in the next game, finally taking the match 6-2 / 6-3. Well done Ryan! …. you dethroned a great champion!
In the Ladies Doubles defending champions Claire Raddan and Debra Schmidt faced new pairing Claire Grant and Sophie Cable in another great match up. Claire G and Sophie took an early lead but the experience of Claire R and Deborah proved decisive as they fought back strongly to take the match convincingly 6-3 / 6-2.
Garry Morris and James Keothavong faced arch-rivals Massimo Ciampi and George Swallow in the Men’s Doubles final, hunting their 6th title in a row. This was an absorbing and finely balanced encounter. Garry and James surged to an early 3-1 lead, only for Massimo and George to take 5 games in a row, taking the first set 6-3. The second set was almost a carbon copy in reverse, with Garry and James closing it out 6-3. One set all and on to the decisive championship tie-break. Massimo and George took the first 2 points and held firm throughout. At five-all they had another run of 3 points and in one last big-hitting rally they clinched the tie-break 10-6 to take their first title. A fantastic result in their 4th consecutive final and their celebrations were the best of the weekend!
The Mixed Doubles final saw Claire Raddan and Garry Morris take on Sophie Cable and Tom Corbett. Claire and Garry were seeking their 6th title, while Sophie and Tom had also won the event in 2023. Sophie and Tom stretched to an early 4-1 lead and then latterly 5-4, but at the business end of the set momentum swung back to Claire and Garry. They forced a tie-break and won it by 7 points to 3. At 3 games all in the second set, Claire and Garry won the next three games and claimed the title for a 7th time: 7-6 / 6-3.
Vets Finals
Sunday’s matches began with the Supervets Men’s Doubles final featuring Russell Bland and James Ortiz versus Tony Blott and Matt Towers, who had won their first title in our inaugural year of 2017. Both players strongly favour squash but they still have the steel and guile to put on a strong challenge on a rare visit to the tennis courts. Sadly, Matt struggled with serve consistency in the first set and so Russell and James made decisive breaks to take the set 6-3. Matt and Tony established a good lead in the second set, only for Tony to lose his serve for the first time at 5-4. This proved decisive as the match then went to a tie-break, which Russell and James surged through to win with five points in a row. Final score 6-3 / 7-6.
Past champion Nick Sleap played James Norman in the Vets Open Singles final. This was to be James first title in a dominant display featuring precision slice shots mixed with some forehand topspin. Nick struggled to get his best game going. He won the first two games before James settled into his stride and never looked back to win 6-2 / 6-0.
The Vets Men’s Doubles was a humdinger of a match, with defending champions Arif Hakim and David Seymour up against Paul Thomas and Nick Sleap. After a nervous start, Paul and Nick rapidly found their stride to take the first set 6-3. The second set was hard fought all the way to a tie-break, with Arif and David keeping their composure to edge across the line and take the set. However, momentum then swung back again. Paul and Nick took an early lead in the championship tie break that they never relinquished – some great tennis in a very tense decider! Well done Paul and Nick! 6-3 / 6-7 / 10-6.
The Vets Ladies Doubles featured Emma Tatum-Hume and Amanda Greenland versus Sue Middlemas and Isobelle Garrard and the match produced some sparkling rallies of power groundstrokes by all four players. Amanda and Emma have partnered each other many times and this greater experience ultimately paid off, playing their fourth final and taking their 3rd title in 4 years: 6-2 / 6-0.
Plate Finals
The Men’s Doubles Plate final saw Ed Chamberlayne and Matt Cutts up against Ali Raja and Sri Sreedhara for the first time. We were treated to some fine rallies throughout. Alli and Sri held their serves throughout and could not be denied. 6-2 / 6-3.
The last final of the day was the Open Singles Plate …a real treat between Esteban Stewart and Tom Hall. Esteban was defending champion, and this was Tom’s first ever final. Esteban carved a 5-0 lead in the first set, before Tom recovered three games. Too much to pull back though as Esteban won the set 6-3. Tom then gathered himself to storm through the second set 6-0. The championship tie-break was a slugfest of long and exhausting rallies. Neither player would submit. Tom held his nerve though with a slender lead, finally winning through 10 points to 8. The final score was 3-6 / 6-0 / 10-8.
Thank you to all the players for entering and to those supporters and members who came to cheer them on. You can see more photos on our Facebook album here.
Congratulations to our Champions and to all who entered the events this year!
Next year we plan to register the Singles events on the LTA competitions portal, meaning your results will enable you to gain and improve your WTN (World Tennis Number) ranking points. You will need to hold an LTA membership to be able to enter, and we will explain more about this in due course.
We look forward to an even better championship in 2026!
Full Results Below:
