The British Open Seniors Clay Court Championships were, once again, played at The West Hants Club, Bournemouth from 25 May to 1 June 2019. We were very fortunate with the weather and only experienced one day of rain delays and Finals Day was played out in warm, sunny conditions.
This year, a total of 395 players entered, totalling 475 entries across singles and doubles, with 432 matches scheduled for the week. The vast majority of these matches were played on the Blue American courts at West Hants.
Highlights
Sarah Wright followed up her win at the Indoor Championships in January, by adding the Women's 35 Singles title to her collection. Sarah them teamed up with Mili Shah to win the 35 Doubles title, defeating Jane Bingham and Debbie-Louise Hale in the final.
Michelle Oldham retained her Women's 45 Singles title for a third successive year, defeating Gillian Brown in the final. She then teamed up with Women's 40 Singles champion, Candy Reid-Harrop to add the Women's 40 Doubles title to their collection.
Ellie Krocke moved in to the Women's 75 age group, having won the Women's 70 title the previous five years and her success continued, winning the Women's 75 Singles by defeating the 2018 champion, Frances Maclennan, in a close final.
In the Men's 40 Singles event, Tom Wride defeated David Gaterell in the final, having been runner-up in 2018.
Isabelle Bramhall 'did the double' by beating last year's Champion, Jane Hunter in the Women's 50 Singles final, then teamed up with Siobhan Nicholson to defeat Jane and her partner Brigid Amos in the Women's 50 Doubles final.
Another player completing 'the double' was Hazel Lindfield, who defeated Kim Reed in a close Women's 60 Singles final and then teamed up with Kim to take the Women's 60 Doubles title.
Liselot Prechtel returned to West Hants to win the Women's 55 Singles, having taken that title on her last visit in 2017.
There was title success for local players, with Andrew Phillips defeating Linden Hardisty for the Men's 50 Singles title and then James & Jonathan Pankhurst retained their Men's 35 Doubles title, by beating Zane Cheeseman and Malcolm Hilliar.
In the Men's 60 Singles, Paul French won the title for the 4th time in five years, defeating Nigel Mann in the Final. A similar statistic in the Men's 35 Singles event, with Barry Fulcher winning the title for the 4th time in five years, beating Mark Weaver in a close final.
Timur Shadiev won the Men's 45 Singles title for the 3rd time in four years and paired up with Mark Hadley to retain their Men's 45 Doubles title.
There was a new Champion in the Men's 70 Singles, with Chris Ornstien defeating three time Champion, Petr Kolacek in a repeat of the 2016 final. However, Petr left West Hants with a title, as he paired up with Peter Bretherton to retain their Men's 70 Doubles title with a victory over Wilf Jessop and Chris Ornstien.
Pauline Fisher and Shirley Fox teamed up to win the Women's 65 Doubles title for a 3rd year, after Shirley had defeated Rosemary Wilson to take the Women's 70 Singles title.
June Pearce won the Women's 80 Doubles title for the 4th time, this time with partner Marcia Ackers, defeating Alma A'Court and Mary Walkerdine. Anne Williams won the Women's 85 Singles event, having been runner-up in 2018.
USA's King Van Nostrand returned to West Hants to take the Men's 85 Singles event, having won the Men's 80 Singles and Doubles in 2018. Tom Baron and Gordon Oates retained their Men's 85 Doubles title, defeating Leonard Lawrence and Leonard Phillips in a very close final.
Another eagerly awaited Final which generated quite a few local spectators, was the Men's 75 Singles which involved Mark Cox and Roger Taylor. Mark took the Singles title, but Roger teamed up with Australia's Gordon Waygood to take the Men's 75 Doubles title.
A number of Singles and Doubles Finals were scheduled and played throughout the week with Seniors Tennis GB President Charles Trippe, Chairman Keith Bland and Vice President Valerie Willoughby kept busy with presenting duties. Charles returned for the Final Day on Saturday 1 June present trophies.
Photos of the Presentations for each event are available on the Seniors Tennis GB Facebook page and full results are available on our Seniors’ Competitions page.