Scottish Open Championships
Loretto School, Musselburgh, May 2nd/3rd
Neil Roberts reports: This year the Scottish Open had to compete with the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight for the distinction of being the weekend’s most talked about sporting event. I’m sure that all the spectators who braved the cold weather at Loretto will have marvelled at the quality of the competition, not just the established talents of defending champion Dan Tristao, Dave Butler and local favourite Richie Murby, but also the emerging stars of the future including Andrew Boyd of Edinburgh Academy, Gary Lemmon of Loretto, and Archie McCreath and Grant Sperling from Fettes College.
Eventually, after a hard day’s Fives, the top two seeds made it through to the final, Dan Tristao defeating Dave Butler in two hard-fought games.
On the Sunday morning, the skill of the organiser in selecting doubles pairings of matching abilities proved as good as ever (which is more than can be said of his Fives), as several of the group matches went to deciding third games.
Eventually, Caledonian club stalwart Mike Kemp, partnering schoolboy sensation Andrew Boyd, made it through to the final to defeat defending doubles champion Ed Hatton and Loretto’s rising star Gary Lemmon. In the plate final, Simon Hodgson and Jez (winner of the best beard competition) Sinton defeated Neil Roberts and Grant Sperling.
As always, the organiser is very grateful to Loretto school and to Roger Whait in particular for allowing us to use their courts for this prestigious tournament.
RESULTS
Singles
1st round: N Roberts bt Gary Lemmon ( Loretto) 15-11, 16-14; A George bt Grant Sperling (Fettes) 15-3, 15-3; Andrew Boyd (Edinburgh Academy) bt J Sinton 15-3, 15-3; M Kemp bt Archie McCreath (Fettes) 15-4,15-7
2nd round: Tristao bt Roberts 15-4, 15-2; George bt Hatton 15-3, 15-8; Murby bt Boyd 15-3, 15-3; Butler bt Kemp 15-4, 15-7
Semi-finals: Tristao bt George 15-10, 15-1; Butler bt Murby 15-6, 15-6
Final: Tristao bt Butler 15-4, 15-5
Plate: Hatton
Doubles
Pool A
Sinton/Hodgson bt Murby/ Patrin Maddison (Loretto) 7-11,11-2, 11-3
Hatton/Lermmon bt Murby/Maddisopn 11-7,11-4
Hatton/Lemmon bt Sinton/Hodgson 12-10,6-11,11-9
Pool B
Roberts/Sperling bt George/ Matthew Sinclair (Loretto) 11-2, 12-10
Kemp/Boyd bt George/Sinclair 11-4, 11-0
Kemp/Boyd bt Roberts/Sperling 11-0, 11-2
Final: Boyd/Kemp bt Hatton/Lemmon 15-7, 15-5
Plate: Hodgson/Sinton