Fabian wins two trophies at Warwick

There was a large Oxfordshire contingent at St Nicholas Park, Warwick on Saturday for the second Lillington Tournament, including several players making their first appearance in an Open event of this type.

Two 11-year-old newcomers from Banbury, Oliver Keen and Jamie Dagg, looked very promising. Oliver reached the main draw in both Under 13s and Beginners, while Jamie won both Consolation events. Older brother, William Dagg (14), had a very fine run in the Beginners’ section, all the way to the final.

Most successful of all was Fabian Audifferen, who amazingly went through the whole day unbeaten, winning both the junior singles and senior Grade C events. In the juniors he recorded victories over James Robertson (Lillington), William Apted (Eathorpe), Finlay Nash (Blaenafon) and Connor Gerkin (Kidlington). At this level, his backhand hitting with the anti-loop rubber is particularly potent and with it he can create space and time to bring his powerful forehand into play as well.

John Ho (13) and Harry Maldonado (10) competed well to reach the main draw in all their events. John has a solid all-round game, but needs more power and better footwork on his forehand. Watch out for Harry, who has an excellent forehand hit, which could turn into quite a big shot. Oliver Keen is another to look out for in the future, already with a swinging left-handed loopy forehand. Matt Hughes (14) had a frustrating day, not that he was out of his depth, but he kept losing very close matches: to his credit he was trying to stay up more and counter-hit from over the table: he could develop a very solid backhand game, but needs to work very hard on straightening out his forehand blocking and hitting.

John Birkin (December 16, 2013)