Kinnaird Cup and Ladies Championships: Top Seeds Back Into The Finals
23/03/26: The two top seeded pairs in both competitions made it through the semi-finals of the Kinnaird Cup and Ladies Championships in association with Advanta Wealth at Eton yesterday.
Kinnaird Cup Semi-Finals
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley beat S.Tailor & C.Plummer 3-0 (12-5, 12-2, 12-3)
R.Houlden & H.Young beat J.Toop & M.Wiseman 3-0 (12-0, 12-8, 12-6)
Ladies Championships Semi-Finals
K.Hird & C.Cooley beat R.Wood & B.Laws 3-0 (12-0, 12-1, 12-2)
A.Lumbard & E.Scoones beat H.Asquith & C.Barr 3-0 (12-6, 12-4, 12-4)
There were no shocks in either the Kinnaird or the Ladies semi-finals this year with the top two seeds in both competitions winning in straight games, setting up a fourth consecutive Kinnaird final between Tom Dunbar & Seb Cooley and Riki Houlden & Hugo Young and a fifth consecutive Ladies final (and a ninth in ten years) between Karen Hird & Charlotta Cooley and Ashley Lumbard & Emily Scoones.
Karen & Charlotta were typically ruthless in seeing off Rachel Wood & newly-crowned U15 and U16 champion Betsy Laws for the loss of just three points. While the Ipswich School pupil was unable to inflict much damage on the Ipswich School teacher, this was a fine effort by Rachel & Betsy to reach the Last Four and they went on to win a best of three game 3rd/4th place play-off. There was another semi-final debutant in the other match, with 2024 Schools' champion Charlotte Barr partnering serial semi-finalist Harry Asquith; they made more of an impact on the scoreboard against Ashley & Emily, but the superior set piece and greater consistency and accuracy of shot of the second seeds kept them comfortably ahead at all times.
The Kinnaird Cup semi-finals were both re-runs of last year's matches, but were rather less close. In both matches last year, the lower seeded pair had taken a game off their higher-ranked opponents and put them under lots of pressure at times. That was never really the case this year, with Tom & Seb dispatching Sunil Tailor & Charles Plummer pretty quickly, a combination of Tom & Seb being on top of their game from the start and Sunil & Charles never really being able to bring their best Fives to the court. Riki & Hugo were also determined not to get into another long, close match against former champions James Toop & Matthew Wiseman and won the first game to 0; Matt & James pushed them much harder in the second and got ahead in the early stages of the third, but Riki & Hugo were in control for the majority of the match and came through in straight games.
The finals will be at Berkhamsted Prep School again this year, starting at 2:30pm on Sunday 29th March. Spectators are welcome to come along and enjoy what should be a great afternoon of Fives.