St Paul’s School, Barnes
Saturday/Sunday, 2-3 December 2023
STOP PRESS As expected the Big Four made it to the final stages of the competition, with the Big Question: Which of the Four would it be that took the title this year? And the answer was emphatic, with Ben Beltrami defeating, first, defending champion Dan Tristao in two straight games, and then, in the final, two-time runner-up Ed Kay, again in two straight games. Surprisingly it is Ben’s first open singles title. In the Plate Lewis Keates and James Tilston won all their group matches, with Lewis winning the ensuing final against James in two games.
Charlie Brooks reports: The qualifying tournaments for this year’s National Singles were held in Rugby, Edinburgh and London, with 56 players taking part across these venues. Oscar McIntyre, Richie Murby and Julian Aquilina were the respective winners, joined in the finals by nine other qualifiers and the top four ranked players in the country — Tristao, Kay, Ellison and Beltrami — to be played at St. Paul’s School.
With livestreaming throughout the tournament, the 16 competitors’ top quality action was being captured for all to see. First round matches pitted familiar foes and new faces from around the country against each other.
Recent Universities champion Marcus Cloke Browne gave Tom Watkinson a run for his money in the first game, but ran out of steam in the next. Unsurprisingly, the closest fought game was between eighth and ninth seeds, Charlie Brooks and Lewis Keates, with Charlie withstanding Lewis’s fightback in the second. The number nine seed was to demonstrate his prowess in the Plate.
Quarter-final time, with seeds 5-8 fancying a surprise result, with two of them (Watkinson x 2 and Murby) having won an Open Singles tournament in 2023. Alas, it was not to be. The matches were not without glimpses of opportunities, with Julian Aquilina going close against Will Ellison in Game one. But whilst illness may have played a part, there was always too much strength from the higher ranked players.
No upsets so far, and the top four players from the past few years had made it safely into the semis: Dan Tristao vs Ben Beltrami and Ed Kay vs Will Ellison.
Last year’s three-game final was between Dan and Ben, so this contest promised much… and delivered more. As a reminder, Dan has not lost in the National Singles since god-knows-when and has seven titles to his name.
From the get-go, Ben brought all of his pace and power, revelling in the confidence of his recent form. He edged ahead and remained solid. As Dan lifted his game, so Ben responded, time after time. Exceptional rallies were often ended with a rolling nick from Ben or a deft touch from Dan. As the tension built, Dan heaped the pressure on Ben, but couldn’t find a winning formula to disrupt his young opponent, who kept producing top shots when it mattered. 15-10, 15-9 doesn’t tell the full story of such a high quality affair, but does reflect Ben’s consistency and accuracy.
In the other half of the draw, Ed had a more comfortable victory against seasoned campaigner and two-time champion Will. Ed got off to a flying start, pushing Will back with unrelenting energy. Although Will kept fighting, never making it easy, Ed eased through to 6 and 6.
As Sunday rolled around, one thing was clear — a new National Champion was going to be crowned. Both players have lost to Dan in the final in recent seasons, so now was their chance to put their name on the trophy.
Ben looked nervous in the opening exchanges, allowing Ed into an early lead, 4-0. The performance we’d seen in the semis from Ben then came to the fore. Retrieval, nicks, power, and a wingspan as wide as an albatross defining the remainder of the game, and indeed match. It became impossible for Ed to get anything past Ben and the longer a rally went on, the higher the likelihood of a winner from Ben’s gloves (he ended with 19 clean winners, to Ed’s 8). The pattern was set, and try as he might, Ed couldn’t change it. The first game finished 15-8, with Ed needing something special to turn it around.
The start to the second was intense, as Ed pushed hard. As in his victory over Dan, Ben was first equal to, and then surpassed, everything his opponent could throw at him. For a while, it seemed like this one would go the distance as they traded early blows over many extraordinary rallies. But at 5-5, Ben turned up the heat and pulled away to take the game 15-5.
Remarkably, this was Ben’s first ever open title — not a bad one to start with! Surely it won’t be his last.
The Plate was the closest in recent memory: in both groups, every player scored at least 30 points from their three games. Lewis Keates and James TIlston emerged on top, just ahead of Wiseman and McIntyre.
In the final, Lewis came out playing a crafty mix of reverse angle shots, consistently wrong-footing his opponent. Alongside some unforced errors from James, the first game went reasonably comfortably to Lewis. The second was a different affair, nip and tuck all the way to the end. The result was the same, however, and Lewis came away with the spoils — his first National Singles Plate.
Scores
1st round: D Tristao bt P Chai 15-7, 15-2; C Brooks bt L Keates 15-7, 15-9; T Watkinson bt M Cloke Browne 15-10, 15-0; B Beltrami bt G Wiseman 15-2, 15-1; W Ellison bt J Tilston 15-8, 15-0; J Aquilina bt A Goodwin 15-4, 15-8; R Murby bt O McIntyre 15-5, 15-7; E Kay bt A McCreath 15-1, 15-3
Quarter-finals: Tristao bt Brooks 15-9, 15-5; Beltrami bt Watkinson 15-2, 15-1; Ellison bt Aquilina 15-11, 15-2; Kay bt Murby 15-7, 15-7
Semi-finals: Beltrami bt Tristao 15-10, 15-8; Kay bt Ellison 15-6, 15-6
Final: Beltrami bt Kay 15-8, 15-5
Plate
Group A: 1st Keates 45 pts; 2nd Wiseman 37 pts; 3rd Cloke Browne 35 pts; 4th Chai 32 pts
Group B: 1st Tilston 45 pts; 2nd McIntyre 39 pts; 3rd Goodwin 34 pts; 4th McCreath 30 pts
Final: Keates bt Tilston 15-7, 15-12
The new champion, Ben Beltrami
The finalists
Lewis and James contest the Plate final
The tech team!
The GenSec on live streaming duty
Will serving on YouTube
Ben perfectly balanced to attack Dan
Oscar to Archie in the Plate