Tin-Tin Ho completed a clean sweep of all five titles available to her at the Cadet & Junior National Championships in Hatfield.
Her wins in the cadet girls’ singles and doubles, in addition to her three wins on Saturday, confirmed her place at the top of the English junior rankings and surely a future England no. 1 spot.
Cadet Girls Singles
Tin-Tin Ho’s progression to the final was never really in doubt. With several comfortable wins in the group before three more straight games knockout victories, she eased her way to the final.
The only real question would be who her opponent was. In the end it was second seed Emily Bolton, but only after she survived an epic five-game semi-final.
Having already beaten Eda Aydin and Holly Holder 3-0, she faced Letitia McMullan in the last four where the pair traded the first four games 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 5-11. However, it was Bolton who held her nerve at the end to win a tight match 11-9.
The final unfortunately was another one-sided affair. Although Bolton battled bravely to an 11-8 first game deficit, the second game flew by after Tin-Tin opened a 7-0 lead – converting it 11-2.
When the third game also fell 11-5, Tin-Tin’s fourth title out of five was in the bag.
Cadet Boys Singles
Marcus Giles was the winner of the cadet boys’ singles – justifying his number one seeding by holding off strong challenges from both Luke Savill and Tom Jarvis.
With all the top seeds (Giles, Jarvis, Savill and Alec Ward) making the semi-finals, the high-quality action really kicked-off there in two fantastic matches.
First of all Jarvis beat Ward 3-0 (13-11, 11-5, 11-7) but this was a misleading scoreline as the rallies were very even between the pair throughout. Meanwhile, in the other semi there was no doubting the close nature of the fixture as the match headed into a deciding game.
After Giles had recovered from 2-1 down to Savill after 11-5, 9-11, 5-11, 11-9 games, the pair tested their skills and nerves in a frantic fifth game. Giles looked in control at 6-2 up but Savill levelled at 7-7 – only to see his dream slip away with Giles winning the game 11-9.
In the final, the quality table tennis continued. Jarvis spurned a 6-1 lead in the first game to lose it 11-9 but fought back in the second – saving a game point from Giles to level at 1-1 (13-11).
However, from there the more composed Giles let his temperance keep him in control of the match as he won the final two game 11-7 to take the title home.
Cadet Girls Doubles
Tin-Tin’s perfect weekend was finally secured with yet another comprehensive final win as she and partner Emily Bolton took home the doubles crown with a 3-0 victory over Letitia McMullan and Amy Humphreys in the final.
Just like her singles campaign, the doubles title was rarely in any danger – conceding just the one game to Beth Farnworth and Kate Nixon in a 3-1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 15-13) victory.
Credit to McMullan and Humphreys who twice won 3-1 en route to reaching the final but, once there, they were unable to handle the top two seeded girls who won in straight games 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5).
Cadet Boys Doubles
Tom Jarvis and Luke Savill exacted revenge on the respective singles defeats earlier to Marcus Giles by beating the number one seed, and his partner Hugo Pang, in a superb boys’ doubles final.
They had to come from behind to win the title after they wrestled control from Giles and Pang who were, at one stage, 2-0 and 10-10 up.
However, with Jarvis and Savill winning the third game 12-10 and securing the fourth game 11-6, the momentum was well and truly back in their camp. When they led from start to finish in an 11-7 final game, they were deserved victors of the boys’ doubles title.
English Junior & Cadet National Championships Results
Cadet Boys Singles
Marcus Giles bt Tom Jarvis 3-1 (11-9, 11-13, 11-7, 11-7)
Cadet Girls Singles
Tin-Tin Ho bt Emily Bolton 3-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-5)
Cadet Boys Doubles
Luke Savill/Tom Jarvis bt Marcus Giles/Hugo Pang 3-2 (9-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7)
Cadet Girls Doubles
Tin-Tin Ho/Emily Bolton bt Letitia McMullan/Amy Humphreys 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-5)