TENNIS: Finals Day at Amherst
HUGH SULLIVAN
The annual international tennis tournament on the grass courts of Devonshire Park in Eastbourne has been downgraded in status this year, with the top women players on the global circuit diverted away to the more glamorous Queen’s Club in West London. The players of Hastings, however, have given that loss of prestige up the coast little thought as they focus on their home competitions. The Amherst club in particular has been drawing large crowds to its central decking area over the past ten evenings as the best of their number contest singles and doubles championships. These will culminate in five finals tomorrow (Saturday), starting at 2pm.
Pearl Hare plays Nikki Crowhurst in 2024 women’s final
There’s been a notable influx of younger talent into the club over the past couple of seasons, both male and female, and it has showed in the quantity and quality of competition entrants. Best match so far in the men’s singles has been a quarter-final between the two quickest players around the court, Stefan Le Breuilly and Jack Watson. Neither has a big serve nor booming ground strokes, but both scamper back and forth with high energy, keeping the ball low and retrieving the irretrievable. Le Breuilly took a 5-1 lead in the opening set, with Watson fighting back to take a 6-5 lead, but Le Breuilly squeezed home in the tie-break. In the second set Watson went 3-1 up but, as drizzle gradually turned into rain, Le Breuilly’s relentless pressing edged the match back to equality, and he eventually secured a 6-3 winning margin to take the second set and the match.
Nevertheless, at the time of going to press, the seeding committee’s backing of established players to make it through to the latter stages looks justified. Le Breuilly was due to meet last year’s champion and number 1 seed, Quentin Soucek, in the semi-final. The winner of that match is likely to find himself playing senior coach Pete Farthing in the final. Farthing can’t even remember himself when he last entered the competition – certainly well over a decade ago – but he will certainly be out to win against whichever younger opponent he’s facing.
On the women’s side, last summer’s finalists Nikki Crowhurst and Pearl Hare are backed to repeat their encounter – an epic of high winds and shifting fortunes settled by a championship tie-break. However, previous winner Anita Pearce could cause an upset in the semi-finals.
Le Breuilly and Watson are the top-seeded pair in the men’s doubles, but there are a couple of father-son duos in the other half of the draw who could provide stern challenges: Quentin and Orlando Soucek are a formidable combination, as are Guy and Tom Lawford. Meanwhile, mother and daughter Debi and Jada Ani are expected to repeat their 2024 triumph in the women’s doubles, while Debi will also fancy her chances in the mixed after securing Farthing as partner.
Over in St Leonards, The Green club’s closed tournament will take place in the week following Wimbledon, with the finals planned for Saturday 19 July. Their men’s team, headed by coach Joe Adams and Chris Grief, have been performing well in Sussex Division 2 East of the National League, a tier above their Amherst counterparts–it was The Green’s second team that drew 6-6 with the top Amherst foursome in a tightly fought contest back in April.
Adams received the accolade of Coach of the Year from Tennis Sussex and then from the LTA, awarded no doubt mainly for his work alongside fellow coach Ross Cudmore at the refurbished tennis courts in Alexandra Park. Cudmore also received a county award as Disability Player of the Year.
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