Riya, Felicity, Leandros

The finals of the Under 16 and Under 19 CURTC Club Championships took place last Wednesday. Nine players competed in the Under 16 CC round robin (RR) stage of the tournament to determine two finalists. The RR matches were played over the last few weeks, which resulted in Leandros Georgoulis winning all his matches and Riya Bharwad coming second. There were many close matches, notably, Marius Parente-White nearly defeating Riya and William Buttrey winning against Marius.

In the knockout final it was obvious that Riya had made significant improvements to her game, probably from making very good use of her Summer Season Ticket (SST)! Riya led all the way, however Leandros kept within a game up to when the score was 4/5. Leandros showed great speed and agility and Riya served and returned with power and precision. Riya then increased her lead to win 8/5.

In the Under 19 Club Championship, Riya and Leandros joined the defending champion, Felicity Riddall-Bell. All three players were about handicap 60 so it was no surprise that there was very little separating the players in their matches. Leandros came closest to catching Felicity, the ultimate winner, losing 8/7 and Riya lost 8/6. Felicity’s victory was a fitting end to her time as a Cambridge junior, as along with her mother, Fiona, she has been a significant contributor to junior tennis at our club.

Kees