The first of BATTS’ Senior Super Series tournaments was a phenomenal success, with home player Adam Nutland sinking top seed Darius Knight on his way to the final.

At the outset of the semi-final clash, it was obvious Nutland was hungry for success as he aimed to build on his dominant defeats of other highly seeded players in earlier rounds, including a straight sets win in the quarter-final against the No 5 seed Niall Cameron.

Nutland’s semi-final encounter with Knight was a truly spectacular tussle with outstanding rallies throughout the match. After a storming start, in which Nutland took the first game 11-2, Knight gave notice that was not giving up the fight, and came back to take the second game 13-11. The next three games were all desperately close. Nutland was never going to beat Knight by sheer power, and he showed ingenuity and flair at the right moments to seal his victory, taking the fifth set 11-9.

The final was another great match but Doran had slightly more reserves of energy by the end of a strenuous evening and overcame Nutland in four games

Fellow BATTS coach Peter Cleminson showed us that he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming season. He had two superb matches with higher seeded players, only just losing 8-11 in the final set to No 3 seed Mike O’Driscoll, and then another astonishing five-setter with Ryan Fellows who was seeded No 7.

We were delighted to see so many club members turning out to see the magnificent play. As the competition gained momentum and the atmosphere became electric, it was clear that everyone would all be staying to the final. We were grateful to have offers of help from so many of our younger members during the evening. In particular, I must mention the enthusiastic young umpiring team of Benjamin, Declan, George, Jess, Jaz and Matthew who kept coming back looking for more matches to umpire.

The format of our Super Series competitions ensures a fast and furious turnaround of matches. The attractiveness for competitors and spectators alike is that there is a much more even run of play, with all the tables in use almost continuously. But at the same time, the closing stages contain all the excitement of the semi-final and final of a normal knockout tournament. In all our Super Series events we are putting all the entrance fees into the prize fund, and we are confident this will make every event very attractive for all participants.

We now look forward to our first Junior Super Series on Sunday October 4 and then the first Cadet Super Series on Sunday November 22. Entries for both have started arriving, so don’t leave it too late if you are thinking of taking part. Then we have the next Senior Super Series on Friday December 4. Click here to download entry forms.

Here are the final placings from Friday’s event:

1 Chris Doran (£300)
2 Adam Nutland (£150)
3 Darius Knight (£75)
4 Mike O’driscoll (£50)
5 Ryan Fellows
6 Peter Cleminson
7 Stephen Beerling
8 Niall Cameron
9 Neil Charles
10 Zoltan Hosszu
11 Luke Walsh
12 Costas Papantoniou
13 Ethan Walsh
14 Lucas Papantoniou
15 Josh Dye
16 Joseph Langham-Ferreira
17 Ben Warner (Band One Winner – £50)
18 Peter Radford
19 Dob Tokov
20 Ian Herriott
21 Phil Snelson
22 Ella Patel
23 Paul Nicol
24 Jiten Pitamber
25 Sam Chesterman
26 Stuart Laws
27 Chris Cockburn
28 Victor Chan
29 Elaine Hanworth
30 Joe Walker
31 Colin Barham
32 Stanley Garnham-Sankey