Blundell’s School, Tiverton
Saturday/Sunday 13-14 July 2024
STOP PRESS Ed Kay won his fourth South West Open Singles title in five seasons, following it with his third Doubles title, won twice previously with Ollie Arnold but this year with Ben Beltrami, whom he had defeated in the Singles final.
Both Singles and Doubles were played on the Saturday, with the Singles final early on Sunday morning, while the later stages of the Doubles were continued thereafter, followed by a small tournament of American Doubles which was won by Julian Aquilina and Shinan Zhang.
On Saturday Charlie Brooks presented Wayne with a framed collage of photos from the RFA Photographic Archive to celebrate 40 years of the South West Open and to thank Wayne and Lesley for their extraordinary commitment to this event, which Wayne initiated in 1984.
Wayne Enstone reports: I feel it is most appropriate of me to begin this year’s report with a heart-felt thanks to the RFA and Exeter Fives Club and all those involved in sourcing the FABULOUS Photo Collage and engraved glassware presented to Lesley and me for our 40th Tournament. I can’t tell you how many very happy and fond memories those photos bring back to us both. I can assure you all they will certainly take pride of place in our home. I would truly wish that I could do another 40; however, that has always been one of my problems, but hey, what’s wrong with dreaming!!
As for the 2024 Championship report, to say the first round Singles matches produced fireworks at 10am in the morning is an understatement. There two great three-game matches to kick us off: Terry McElvaney against Anthony Goodwin, both talented shotmakers and powerful hitters, Terry taking the first, then Anthony managing to rally in the second, and eventually winning the third game to an unlikely 1 point; the other impressive match was Marcus Cloke Browne, his first appearance on these courts, playing Penn Chai, last year’s Plate winner, with Marcus winning the first and Penn coming back to take the second. However, Marcus’s defensive agility and consistent shot play won him the third to 3. Alex Hopkins, new to the Blundell’s courts, played an in-form Lewis Keates and, whilst playing the courts well, couldn’t quite match Lewis’s powerful hitting, with Lewis winning in two games. A hard-hitting Ed Grant didn’t get any change out of Charlie Brooks, but despite gaining just 1 point Ed’s first time performance at Blundell’s was very respectable. Peter Grant reminded me that his first appearance at these championships was in 1986; Peter played a very in-form Julian Aquilina, doing well to get 2 and 1. Nick Geere never ceases to amaze and gave Theo Parker two good warm-up games. And Shinan Zhang had two lively games against Ben Beltrami, our National Singles Champion, but Ben being so hard for anyone to get a ball past, well done to Shinan for winning so many rallies despite losing the match.
The Singles quarter-final matches, whilst hard-fought, saw all the seeds win through to the semi-finals after many entertaining rallies, with the losers all putting in fine performances and showing promise for the future. I felt for Theo as he eventually pushed Julian in the second game and whilst Marcus didn’t get the reward in a lot of rallies, he did consistently put Ben under pressure. Lewis is certainly developing his game and made Charlie work for the win in both the games, whilst Anthony still produced winners against Ed’s brilliant defence.
The semi-finals again resulted in the seeding holding up, with Charlie doing his best to put Ed under pressure and win many rallies but not enough, as Ed won through in two; and, similarly, Ben did to Julian what he had done to Theo. However, no doubt about it, Julian has improved since I watched him last season and his fitness is not in question, but Ben’s attacking play is just too tough to handle. That concluded Singles play and lined up the final between Ed and Ben on the Sunday morning.
Whilst the Singles rounds took place so did the Doubles, interspersed among them, and fortunately for me there were no three-gamers to report. A first-round match could have gone to three between a father & son pairing, Peter & Ed Grant, versus Nick Geere & Andy Landon, with Nick & Andy narrowly winning both games. In the quarters again the seeds won through, with Terry & Penn giving Ed & Ben a good match, and similarly Julian & Lewis had their moments of glory against Charlie & Theo but couldn’t break them down. The final was set to be played after the Singles on Sunday morning.
As usual, the Plate competitions both took the form of a round robin. As it worked out the last matches were in effect final In the Doubles a mixed doubles pairing of Shinan & Anthony played a young pairing of Alex & Marcus to battle it out for the prize, experience winning through after a very enjoyable last game of the afternoon. In the Singles Plate Penn was the defending champion and one could see he wanted to retain the title: Terry did his best to prevent it happening; however, despite playing some excellent shots, Terry had to concede and Penn took his second Plate Singles title.
As usual the Plate prizes of vases from the Devon Glassmakers Dartington were presented after our excellent Saturday evening meal at the Butterleigh Inn.
The Singles final started proceedings on Sunday morning and yet again one had to be at Blundell’s to understand the quality of play that Ed and Ben produced. It really was a privilege and pleasure to score this final. In the first game Ed had obviously come to defend his title, attacking Ben from the first rally and moving to a 6-0 lead after many changes of service, one point being gained after six changes. It then took Ben six changes to gain his first point and this set the scene for Ben to claw back the score to 6-4. At this point Ed reversed the winning of rallies in his favour going 9-4 up but only after eight changes at 8-4. Ben gained another point but Ed managed to produce a sequence of winning shots to close the first game out 11-5. One had to wonder how they could match that first game for variety of shots, precision, accuracy, power and ability to return a ball that didn’t rise in such a way that their opponent could attack again. In the second Ed again took the lead 2-0, but this appeared to fire Ben up to power the ball even harder, and Ben slowly moved into a somewhat surprising 8-2 lead. Ed did bring it back 8-4. However, Ben managed to consolidate and moved the score on to finish the game 11-4. Amazingly, neither player looked as though the physical energy they had both expended in those games had taken anything out of them. It left us spectators not really knowing who would win the third game? The pattern of score in the third was initially the same as game two; however at 2-all Ed was the player that moved ahead. As with the previous two games the score became 8-4 to Ed, and again whilst we witnessed many rallies that could have been won by either player, with some breathtaking returns, Ed managed to hold on to win the third and retain his title, thereby winning his 4th South West Singles. Considering the tension and pressure each player put the other under yet again in the course of all those fantastic rallies there were only three lets, and each player called several balls down that we spectators may have thought up, maintaining the spirit and wonderful standard of fairness we have in this fantastic game.
Once we had all come down after the Singles final we had the ‘double’ pleasure and treat of watching the Doubles final, which whilst being fast and furious was one the most entertaining I have watched at the South West Champs. I did feel for Charlie & Theo as they had to get up to speed against Ben & Ed, who appeared as fresh as ever and raring to go. Every rally contained lots of variety of shots with both pairs continually attacking their opponents. Charlie & Theo did get back to 4-2 down but Ben and Ed kept steadily moving the score on, though at 10-2 Charlie & Theo did get a consolation point but lost the first 11-3. Ben & Ed were really ruthless in the second and moved to 7-0 up and continued their dominance to clinch the match 11-1, taking the 2024 Doubles, Ben’s first and Ed’s third.
Presentation of Trophies followed, with Ed Kay doing the ‘Double’ again. Thanks as always went to all the players for supporting the Championships.
A final Thanks to all who have attended over the past 40 Years. Do remember all are welcome to next year’s South West Open Championship 2025.
Scores
Singles
1st round: A Goodwin bt T McElvaney 9-11, 11-6, 11-1; L Keates bt A Hopkins 11-2, 11-2; C Brooks bt E Grant 11-0, 11-1; J Aquilina bt P Grant 11-2, 11-1; T Parker bt N Geere 11-5, 11-3; M Cloke Browne bt P Chai 11-5, 7-11, 11-3; B Beltrami bt S Zhang 11-2, 11-1
Quarter-finals: E Kay bt Goodwin 11-4, 11-1; Brooks bt Keates 11-8, 11-6; Aquilina bt Parker 11-1, 11-7; Beltrami bt Cloke Browne 11-2, 11-0
Semi-finals: Kay bt Brooks 11-4, 11-6; Beltrami bt Aquilina 11-2, 11-2
Final: Kay bt Beltrami 11-5, 4-11, 11-5
Plate: 1st Chai; 2nd McElvaney
Doubles
1st round: N Geere & A Landon bt E Grant & P Grant 11-6, 11-7
Quarter-finals: B Beltrami & E Kay bt Geere & Landon 11-1, 11-3; P Chai & T McElvaney bt M Cloke Browne & A Hopkins 11-2, 11-5; J Aquilina & L Keates bt D Hill & D Murdoc 11-4, 11-2; C Brooks & T Parker bt A Goodwin & S Zhang 11-4, 11-7
Semi-finals: Beltrami & Kay bt Chai & McElvaney 11-7, 11-7; Brooks & Parker bt Aquilina & Keates 11-4, 11-7
Final: Beltrami & Kay bt Brooks & Parker 11-3, 11-1
Plate: 1st Goodwin & Zhang; 2nd Cloke Browne & Hopkins
American Doubles: Aquilina & Zhang
Ed wins his 4th Singles title
Ben runner-up in the Singles
Ed & Ben win the Doubles
Charlie & Theo runners-up in the Doubles
Julian & Shinan win the American Doubles
Charlie does the presentation to Wayne …
… to mark 40 years of the South West Open
A collage of photos from the RFA Photographic Archives