Ade Warren & Tess Healey win 2008 Wiltshire Doubles
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 | Tournaments
Ade Warren & Tess Healey have won the 2008 Wiltshire Doubles title after beating Nigel Rowe & Gary Preston 3-1 in the final.
Having delayed the competition from June due to lack of numbers there was a much better response this time with ten pairs entered although one pair unfortunately withdrew due to illness on the morning of the competition.
The group stages ran pretty much to form although the day started with a bit of a surprise when Mike Hyland & Nev Buckle defeated Paul Clark & Pat Carty 3-0. Eventually, it was Stannard & Jones and Hyland & Buckle who progressed from Group A and Warren & Healey and Rowe & Preston from Group B.
In the first semi-final Mike Stannard & Kevin Jones put up a tremendous fight in defence of their title but in the end it was Nigel Rowe & Gary Preston who triumphed, winning a close and hard-fought match by 3-1.
In the other semi-final, it seemed just one game too far for Mike Hyland & Nev Buckle who went down 3-0 against Ade Warren and Tess Healey in a game that was closer than the scores suggest.
Having already contested a very close match in the group stages it was no surprise that it took until well into the fourth game of the final before it became clear which pair was going win.
Warren & Healey led 14-11 in the first game but their opponents came back right at the end to pinch it 15-14. In the second game Rowe & Preston recovered from 13-10 down to level at 13-13 before eventually losing it 15–13. In the third game it was Warren & Healey who fought back from 14-12 down to win it 15-14 and take a 2-1 lead. Warren and Healey finally took full control in the fourth game, racing to a 12-2 lead before closing it out at 15-4.
It was a fitting finale to a very successful tournament with plenty of hard and fast rallies complemented by excellent touch play and some magnificent winning shots. Congratulations to Ade & Tess who seemed to get better as the day went on and thoroughly deserved their win.
Finally, my thanks to all the players who can take great credit in the fact that despite the competitive nature of the matches it was always played in excellent spirit.
Howard Wilson.
No comments yet.