The Club Championships were again a wonderful event with nearly 500 members taking part in the 46 events across all grades and age categories in the tournament.
Despite some small rain delays, the sun soon returned and most of the events were completed on schedule after two weekends of terrific competition.
The Men’s Open Singles saw a new champion with Matthew Carroll, seeded two, defeating the 2013 champion, David Bidmeade, in an extremely close battle 6/4 6/4 while Kate Antosik made it two titles in succession when she defeated Brigitte Beck in a replay of last year’s final 6/4 6/4.
Carroll’s first triumph, having played in the event many times since becoming a member in 2002, was obviously a huge relief as he screamed with joy after winning the final point.
Both Bidmeade and Carroll had diligently worked their way through a large draw with some talented young obstacles in their way.
Bidmeade defeated Todd Millington in straight sets 6/3 6/1 before getting past the experienced Greg Spinks in comfortable fashion 6/2 6/1.
He then took on the Nickels brothers in succession with Daniel up first and despite a very competitive first set he was able to get the job done 7/5 6/1 to move into the semi final against Matthew Nickels.
It was another very competitive first set but Bidmeade was able to break the shackles in the second set to secure his spot in another final with a 6/4 6/2 victory.
Carroll showed his class early in the event with three consecutive wins where he conceded just one game before playing the up and coming Mike Vaughan who came out of a very competitive third quarter of the draw.
Vaughan had beaten Ned Whittaker, Josh Baker and Dexter Bonet on his way to the semi final and looked in great form but it was Carroll who used his experience to move through to the final with a 6/4 6/2 win.
There was never much between Carroll and Bidmeade in the final with several breaks of serve late in the first set deciding it before a very similar second set where things could have gone either way but Carroll held his nerve to get over the line and win his first singles title here at the Club.
The Women’s Open Singles draw made for some very familiar matches in the later stages of the tournament if everyone progressed as expected.
Kate Antosik had a couple of tough matches on her way through the draw including her first match with the ever-improving Stephanie Serafidis which she won 6/3 6/4 before ousting new Kooyong Fitzgerald Scholarship holder Yiota Nicolaou 6/0 6/2.
The semi final saw a match up with good friend Laura McNamara and it didn’t disappoint as the girls battled it out before Antosik came up with the win 7/5 6/3 to move into the final.
Brigitte Beck, seeded two, had two comfortable wins early in the tournament to move through to a rematch with good friend Molly Polak in the semi final.
Beck defeated Akanksha Puli 6/3 6/2 and then Alexandra Meadows 6/1 6/2 before getting another shot at Polak and it was the latter who took the first set in a tiebreak.
This gave Beck the impetus she needed to turn things around as she won the second set 6/2 to level things up at a set apiece.
The final set was all Beck as she ran away with the match 6/7 6/2 6/1 to move through to her second consecutive final and another shot at Antosik.
The final was another tight contest but Antosik always kept her nose in front on the way to winning a very entertaining final and her second consecutive title 6/4 6/4.
In the Men’s Open Doubles it was Bidmeade and Carroll that took all before them to win their first title together after defeating last year’s runners up and rising stars Ned Whittaker and Dexter Bonet 6/4 6/2.
The Women’s Open Doubles was a carbon copy of last year’s final with Antosik and McNamara defeating Beck and Polak 6/4 6/1 to win their second consecutive title.
In the Open Mixed Doubles we had an upset of sorts as Polak and Bidmeade played extremely well to defeat the top seeds, Antosik and Carroll, 7/6 6/4 to finish a very long day for all involved.
David Hough also topped off a very good tournament when he defeated Peter Ikosidekas 6/2 6/3 in the final of the Under 21’s while Laura Rabinovich had to defeat both Bailey twins, Madeleine and Alexandra, on way to the Girls Under 21’s title.
In the Men’s 50’s Singles, Martin Warwick proved to be too good for Greg Spinks in a high quality final while Elizabeth Peers continued her winning ways at the Club Championships when she defeated Wendy Harrison 6/1 6/4 in the final of the Women’s 50’s Singles.
It was fantastic to see everyone enjoying themselves on the grass courts as over 520 matches took place across the three weekends and we look forward to seeing the event bigger and better in February 2015.
