Ladies Championships: Top Four Into The Semis

Ladies Championships: Top Four Into The Semis

14/02/23: The Ladies Championships in association with Advanta Wealth took place at Eton on Sunday, the top four seeds all making it through safely to the semi-finals on Sunday March 26th.

Seventeen pairs made it to the start line at Eton - a slightly disappointing return with various reasons/excuses for non-attendance from illness to injury, mock exams to university work, childcare to pregnancy - and so the day started with four groups to sort out which pairs would go into the quarter-finals of the main competition and which pairs would go into the Festival.

These matches provided a great opportunity for some of the younger and the less experienced pairs to learn from being on the same court as the top players; it also allowed the pairs in the middle to fight it out for a coveted place in the last eight. The late illness/injury withdrawals of Fiona Barnes and Natalie Lilienthal opened up an opportunity for an unexpected pair to make it through, and for a long time it looked as though it would be the scratch pairing of Olvia Prankerd Smith and Sophie Clifford-King. However, a spell of either just being unable to convert gameball or some shameless strategic pot-hunting* turned a 14-10 lead into a 15-14 defeat at the hands of tenacious Shrewsbury youngsters Olivia Millar & Charlotte Taylor, who took the last qualifying spot.

The four top seeded pairs all qualified top of their group without losing a game, although third seeds Harry Asquith & Marjolaine Briscoe had to hold off a strong challenge from Old Salopians Katie Oswald & Emma Graham to win 15-10. Their quarter-final was a lot more convincing as they tightened up their game and played a much more tactically astute match against another dangerous and hard-hitting Old Salopian pair in Lizze Ware & Sarah Jackman to win in three straight games. Olivia & Charlotte's reward for their morning heroics was a match up with top seeds and champions since 2013 Karen Hird & Charlotta Cooley, which will hopefully have been a great learning experience for them. Second seeds Ashley Lumbard & Emily Scoones also won comfortably against the Shrewsbury coach/pupil pairing of Gwenan Davies & Rachel Ellis and Oxford's Rachel Wood & Freya Butler completed the list of quarter-final winners with a strong performance against Katie & Emma, who again posed a major attacking threat but were unable to match their opponents' steadiness and low error count.

The four Salopian pairs then entertained themselves with some plate games while the top four started looking forward to their semi-finals at Eton at 2:30pm on Sunday March 26th. With the Kinnaird Cup semi-finals scheduled to be played at the same time, it should be a fantastic afternoon of Fives.

The remaining pairs headed into the Festival, a nice mix of Ipswich and Shrewsbury youngsters (one playing alongside tournament organiser Mandie Barnes), two exciting novice pairs from North Oxford and Oxford University and Sophie & Olivia, who followed their dastardly masterplan through to its conclusion by holding off all-comers, including an epically close 13-12 first game in the final against Shrewsbury's Clemmie Sowden & Alice Beardsmore, to win the Festival chocolates.

The other pairs continued to play and improve as the day went on, with Mandie and her partner India Quinn winning the Festival plate title ahead of Summer Fields staff pair Bee Millar & Emily Webb after a series of enjoyable matches.

Our thanks go to Mandie Barnes and Ian Mitchell for their organisational work, to Eton for hosting the tournament, to Advanta Wealth for their continued sponsorship, and to all the players who came along and made it such a fun day. If you weren't there but could have been, make sure you get next season's date in your diary as soon as possible!

*delete as appropriate

Quarter-Finals

K.Hird & C.Cooley (1) beat C.Taylor & O.Millar 3-0 (12-0, 12-0, 12-0)

R.Wood & F.Butler (4) beat K.Oswald & E.Graham 3-0 (12-6, 12-6, 12-4)

H.Asquith & M.Briscoe (3) beat S.Jackman & L.Ware 3-0 (12-1, 12-1, 12-2)

A.Lumbard & E.Scoones (2) beat R.Ellis & G.Davies 3-0 (12-2, 12-4, 12-1)

Plate A

S.Jackman & L.Ware beat K.Oswald & E.Graham 12-11

Plate B

R.Ellis & G.Davies beat C.Taylor & O.Millar 15-1

Festival

Quarter-Finals