The Hertfordshire Open 2025 Report
A firm favourite on the tour for many years, we returned to Letchworth Sports Club for the Hertfordshire Open, one of two events at this lovely club on the annual racketlon calendar.
Men’s A
There were lots of interesting new match ups happening in the Men’s A, as we had juniors (Raif), seniors (Keith) and recent B graders making their mark in the A! (Jack and Rob) #1 seed Jonny Ritter was dominant throughout, showing his skills in the middle two sports and not needing to pick up a tennis racket on his way to the final, beating Jamie Watkin-Rees and Jack Taylor.
On the other side of the draw, A grade regulars Ross and Anant won their first matches comfortably, meeting in the semi-final. And what a semi-final it was! After deuce in the table tennis, and near-traded scores in the middle two, it came down to the tennis, Ross’s main sport. Anant had an incredible first half, and with the score at 11-10 (or so) at the turn, it looked like it was in Anant’s grasp, with just 4 more points for the win…However, Ross gave it his all with some incredible tennis (and some nervy second serves) to grind out a 21-14 win, narrowly avoiding the gummi-arm and sealing the deal +1 to set up a final against Jonny.
In the final, Jonny had too much energy left, and after a very close table tennis set, he closed out the win before tennis (luckily for him!) to gain another A grade title. Griffiths brothers, watch out!
Anant took 3rd place after unfortunately Jack had to withdraw from the match due to an injury. We’re all hoping it’s nothing serious!
Women’s A
3 A grade entries and 5 B grade entries gave us a full 8-player draw for the ladies category, including 3 players in the World top 30 rankings!
The standout match from the 4 first round matches was Olivia vs Candice, with it all going down to the wire in the tennis. Candice needed 15 to win, but Olivia’s big badminton serve got her over the line and into the semi-final with a 21-12 tennis win. Huge.
The first semi-final saw #1 seed and world number #5 Holly take on Satarra. They had an incredible badminton set but Holly’s backhand push in table tennis proved too consistent for Satarra, and Holly closed out the win in squash to not need tennis for the second time.The other semi-final was #2 seed Matilda vs Olivia, and Matilda managed to get 12 points in the badminton (shock!) to secure the win before tennis.
This set up a final between #1 and #2, continuing a friendly rivalry between the two GB1 players which has been going in Holly’s favour more recently. It looked like it might be over before Matilda even really got started, with Holly recording single-digit victories in the front two sports, meaning she needed 16 points overall over the back two sports to win. However, Matilda dug deep and produced a 21-5 squash win, so going into the tennis Holly needed 12 for victory. On this occasion, Matilda managed to keep her shots consistent and keep the pressure on, taking the tennis 21-7 along with the title.
Satarra beat Olivia to take 3rd place with another cracking badminton set, and birthday girl Jo Bennett won her second and third matches (+18 and +11) to take the ‘plate’ victory (5th place).
U14
The juniors deserve a special shout out, says organiser George Roberts. Three U14 junior girls playing in one event is a great sight to see as well as 8 players in total!
Racketlon regular Joseph Fitches clinched the U14 title, with two big wins vs Francois and Sam S on his way to the final. He had a tight game vs Samuel G, who had also had big wins and didn’t need tennis on the route to the final! Joseph showed his all around abilities, winning the title despite a 21-5 loss in the squash set.
A special shout out to Francois Sullivan, it was his 10th birthday on the day but he turned up and played with a smile! (Fun fact – he’s Jo Bennett’s nephew, who also played today and whose birthday it was too!)
Men’s B
Organiser and B grade entrant George Roberts reports:
A 4 way round robin saw junior Daniel Austin not need his tennis racket to see off competition from George, Tim and Jim on his way to the title. Deserved winner.
It was the fight for 2nd place that had the twists and turns. Tim beat Jim in round 1 before Jim beat George in round 2. In the last round Tim needed to beat George to claim second place. Tim went into squash 2 up but a tight squash saw Tim take a 6 point lead going into the tennis. Needing 16 in tennis, out of nowhere George played the best tennis he’s ever played giving Tim nothing as George took it 21-10. Aces and winners galore. With all players tied in second place with one win each a three way gummi was on the cards. All players decided it was one hell of a battle and a thoroughly enjoyable Men’s B with Daniel being the outright winner, and it was decided to share the spoils as the Men’s B united as one.
Men’s C
With #1 and #2 seeds crashing out in the first and second rounds respectively, it was all to play for in the Men’s C!
Paul Aylen, playing in his second ever singles tournament, had come runner up in the previous event in Surrey. Reaching the final at Letchworth, could he go one step further and take the title?
He faced newcomer Matt Evans, who had ripped through the first two rounds with impressive +38 and +30 wins. In the final, Paul and Matt traded table tennis and squash scores and were even in badminton, meaning it came down to a game of tennis. Paul pulled off a convincing 21-8 win for his first title!
#1 seed Stuart Vincent lost to the eventual winner Paul in the first round, before going on to win the plate and come 5th.
Men’s D
Rob and Tom Gibby managed to avoid playing each other in the second round, with Tom losing +16 to Zack and Rob (#1 seed) winning his match comfortably. Rob then got his familial revenge by beating Zack +32 to make the final. In the other half, #2 seed Simon had two solid matches, including some very consistent tennis, to make the final. Simon’s tennis also proved too strong for Rob, winning 15-2 to take the D grade title. Jacob Nurse snatched 7th place vs Tom Gibby on a tentative gummi-arm to end the day!
A huge thank you to George Roberts for organising and running a very smooth tournament, and to Letchworth Sports Club for hosting us again.
You can see the full results here: https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=3ba1dae2-4649-4ccf-bf41-5650e8d0f43f
Copyright © 2024 Racketlon. All rights reserved | Web Design by Reforest Hosting