Tonbridge School
Saturday, 4th February 2023
Tonbridge hosted Eastbourne, Christ’s Hospital and St. Olave’s for the 11th South East Regionals. All those schools look forward to welcoming Whitgift and St. Dunstan’s back in the next couple of years. The slightly smaller numbers did not detract from the quality of the play, and it was good to welcome many spectators too, on a day when the weather was fine and not too cold.
The Senior Singles looked like being a battle between Genesis Nsenga from St. Olave’s (losing finalist in 2022) and Max Freudenheim from Tonbridge (semi-finalist at the West of England). So it turned out as both won their semi-finals easily. There were many long rallies in the final, but Max had no answer to Genesis’s power on both wings. Genesis becomes the first winner from St. Olave’s at this tournament. The senior Plate was well contested in an all-play-all format, and the deciding game was between two Tonbridgians, in which Alex Woolf overcame Thomas Gardner in a very long and close encounter.
The U16 Singles contained both of last year’s finalists in the draw and it looked like a repeat of last year’s final. This was again the case and Oliver Woolf from Tonbridge and Charlie Lacewing from Christ’s Hospital progressed fairly comfortably to their second final. The final showed how much Charlie had improved playing with adult group at Christ’s Hospital and his superior line and length meant Oliver could not bring his powerful right hand into play often enough to trouble Charlie, who came through to a comfortable victory, also the first time this title has been won by a player from his school. There was also good competition in the Plate, with Oliver Wilson from Tonbridge having a few too may shots for the others. Harry Hemming from Eastbourne just pipped his doubles partner Dexter Bell for the number two place.
After a good lunch it was time for the Doubles, which was played in all-play-all format. The key game in the senior doubles was between the top pairs from Tonbridge and Christ’s Hospital. Greg Slater & Max Freudenheim were too clinical for Christ’s Hospital’s pair and deservedly retained that trophy for Tonbridge. The U16 competition looked to have a great deciding game in prospect, with Charlie Lacewing trying to dominate for Christ’s Hospital against the more evenly matched pair of Oliver Woolf & Oliver Wilson from Tonbridge. It was very close for a long time but at the crucial moments the Tonbridge pair managed to vary their line with enough accuracy to stop Charlie dominating and they deserved their very close win.
With the last match finishing at 4.05pm and the Presentations all done by 4.15pm the organiser managed to get home in time for the Calcutta Cup!
Results
U18 Singles
Final: G Nsenga (St Olave’s) bt M Freudenheim (Tonbridge) 11-3, 11-5
Plate: A Woolf (Tonbridge)
U18 Doubles
1st: Tonbridge (M Freudenheim & G Slater); 2nd: Christ’s Hospital (O van Huet Lindeman & J Durant)
U16 Singles
Final: C Lacewing (Christ’s Hospital) bt O Woolf (Tonbridge) 11-2, 11-4
Plate: O Wilson (Tonbridge)
U16 Doubles
1st: Tonbridge (O Wilson & O Woolf); 2nd: Christ’s Hospital (C Lacewing and T Pender)
U18 Singles champion from St. Olave’s
U18 Doubles winners from Tonbridge
U16 Singles champion from Christ’s Hospital
U16 Doubles winners from Tonbridge