Cippenham 5 by 2 Cadet & Under-13 1-Star Open Championships (26.2.12)
Two finals for Alex
Alex Gillen, a member of Cippenham TTC’s advanced coaching group reached both finals at the Cippenham Five by Two Cadet and Under-13 Open Championships. The 12-year old, however, ended as a double beaten finalist.
In the morning event, the Under-13 Singles, Gillen, despite being top seed, was pressed all the way to a deciding game by Jonathan McMullan in his preliminary round group. He then benefited from a bye in the first knock-out round and had an easy victory over Catherine Maltby in the quarter-final. The semi-final was a much closer affair winning 3-1 in four close games against promising Welsh player Jac Jenkins.
In the other half of the draw second seed James Smith was making easier progress. He had little difficulty emerging from his group and then eclipsed James Corner 3-1 in the quarters, none of the games being especially close. His semi-final win over Chris Clifford might have been 3-0 but it was a much closer affair with Smith getting through 11-8, 12-10, 11-8.
The scene was set for the two top seeds to battle it out in the final and it did not disappoint. Smith won the first two games only for Gillen to storm back and take the next two to take the match into a deciding fifth game. Then the pendulum swung again and the Kent boy took the title with an 11-5 scoreline.
Many of the same players took part in the Cadet (Under-15) Singles in the afternoon but with some additional older players joining in. One of those was Ryan Williams from Essex and top seeded for the event. Williams was in supreme form winning all his matches en route to the final with a degree of comfort and only James Smith, in the semi-final, took a game off him.
His matches in the preliminary round group were comfortable as was his 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-7) win against Jac Jenkins in the quarter-final and ultimately his 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-7) victory over Alex Gillen in the final that secured the title for Williams.
Gillen had been made to work much harder for his second appearance in a final in the day. After a easy ride through the preliminary round groups and a first round bye he took five games, having to come back from 2-1 down, to beat Jordon Bone in the quarter-final and needed four games to see off the challenge from Lucas Papantoniou in the semis. Papantoniou had been engaged in one of the closest matches of the day in his first round match against Matthew Daish before a 3-1 win over Niall Harris in the quarters.
The consolation events were won by Jonathan McMullan and England Seferi.
The tournament was organised by Terry Boxall and refereed by Mick Strode.
Results:
| Winner: | Runner-up: | |
| Cadet Singles | Ryan Williams (E) | Alexander Gillen (Sy) |
| Cadet Consolation | Jonathan McMullan (Ha) | Soffi Jenkins (WAL) |
| Under-13 Singles | James Smith (K) | Alexander Gillen (Sy) |
| Under-13 Consolation | England Seferi (Mi) | Artur Caltabiano (Ha) |
by Graham Trimming