Hamilton Tenni Club: Jimmi and Jessi claim singles crowns

Jimmi Cox and Ben Catlin fought out a closely-contested men's singles final at Hamilton Tennis Club's annual championships last week.
Jessi Jackson retained her ladies' singles title with a straight sets win over Emily Harrison EMN-180210-173321002Jessi Jackson retained her ladies' singles title with a straight sets win over Emily Harrison EMN-180210-173321002
Jessi Jackson retained her ladies' singles title with a straight sets win over Emily Harrison EMN-180210-173321002

Ben’s tremendous court coverage allowed him to pull back an early deficit and serve for the first set at 5-4, but Jimmi upped his game and drew level at 5-5, and after some long rallies the match went into a tie-break at 6-6.

Both players grew tense and threw in a double fault, and with the advantage going back and forth, Jimmi eventually edged it 8-6.

The second set continued in a similar fashion with both players making some wonderful retrieving shots from almost impossible positions.

Jimmi Cox took a first singles title with victory over Ben Catlin EMN-180210-173310002Jimmi Cox took a first singles title with victory over Ben Catlin EMN-180210-173310002
Jimmi Cox took a first singles title with victory over Ben Catlin EMN-180210-173310002

But Jimmi started to play a slightly more attacking game, forcing Ben into desperate defence, and with a couple of net cords going his way, Jimmi took full advantage to break Ben’s serve and lead 5-4.

Three superb serves took Jimmi to match point, and he held his nerve to take the match and title on the third, hitting the winning shot down the line to seal a well-deserved first singles title.

* The ladies’ singles final pitted defending champion Jessi Jackson against Emily Harrison.

Jessi took an early grip on the match, pulling Emily from side to side in classic fashion, putting Emily’s superb retrieving skills to the test to win the first set 6-1.

Early in the second, Emily had chances to break serve, and only superb court coverage allowed Jessi to retain her lead.

The reigning champion then imposed her attacking tennis while conceding very few unforced errors to take the second set 6-2, and the match 6-2.

* The final match of the Summer League season was a ladies’ veterans second team match against Belvoir Vale.

Both sides were keen for a good result, with Hamilton needing at least two points to avoid relegation, and Belvoir chasing a win to gain promotion.

The first round was a tense affair with Polly Dolby and Jan Jackson losing very quickly to Belvoir’s strong first couple.

But Dee Hughes and Jude Plumb won their first set and pulled back from 5-2 down in the second set to take the match to a tie-break. Both pairs had chances to win the set, but Hamilton eventually took the tie-break 10-8.

In the second round, Polly and Jan won two sets, while Dee and Jude were unable to make much impression against Belvoir’s first pair as the match ended in a 4-4 draw and a very satisfactory result for Hamilton.