Mattimore and Cliff claim 2023 titles
Top seeds Michael Mattimore and Hannah Cliff captured the main titles at the Northumbria Senior County Closed 2023 which took place at Tynemouth Squash Club from 24th to 29th January.
There were over 70 entries in the Men's graded (A to D) events, 8 entries in the Women's event, 32 in total across three Masters age groups (O45, O55 and O65), 8 for Racketball and 12 Doubles pairings, with plate events for first match losers.
In the Men's A event, top seed Michael Mattimore of Northern claimed his second title in succession in impressive style with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-8) win over 3/4 seed Chris Wiggins (Northumberland Club), who had reached the final after knocking out second seed Liam Gutcher at the semi-final stage.
As last year, Mattimore did not drop a game throughout the tournament, which included the defeat of 13-times winner Dave Barnett (Northumberland Club). After a tight opening game, Mattimore took control in the second game and despite a late rally from Wiggins in the third, there was never any likelihood of a comeback and Mattimore closed it out in some style.
The Women's Senior title also went to the top seed, Hannah Cliff of Tynemouth, who was always in control against first-time finalist Harriet Wight (Newcastle University) and completed a 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-3) victory to take her second title after a 7-year gap. Cliff's determination to recapture the title proved decisive, but Wight's time will surely come.
The top seeds in the B event tumbled, leaving 5/8 seeds Tom Beresford (Chester-le-Street) and Cole Windscheffel (Benwell Hill) to battle it out in the final, Tom going 2-0 and match ball in the third game before Cole levelled at 2-2, then Tom finding a second wind in the fifth to close it out 3-2 in a tight encounter.
In the C event, top seed Andrew Black faced unseeded under-15 County player Aidan Mahoney, who had eliminated three seeded players impressively on his way to the final. In a rather bizarre match, Andrew won the first game 11-8 only to find himself 10-0 down in the second, with Aidan hitting a purple patch.
Andrew then found his own form to win 8 points in succession before Aidan finally found a winner to close it out 11-8, but then Andrew took the first 5 points in the third and went on to take the game comfortably. Aidan, who looks a promising prospect for the future, pressed him all the way in the fourth before Andrew just scraped home 11-9 for a 3-1 win.
There was a similar scenario in the D event, with top seed Amanda King (Northumberland Club) facing unseeded Ari Karki of Tynemouth Social who had also knocked out three seeds in reaching the final, all in 5 games. Ari's lightning pace and impressive retrieving ability meant that he overcame Amanda, who had not dropped a game in reaching the final, winning a tight encounter 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-9).
In the Masters events, two champions retained their titles - Peter McCleod (Sunderland) in the Over 45s for the fifth time, by 3-0 against a somewhat injury-hampered Simon Long (Concordia), and Andrew Wilkinson (Hexham) in the Over 65s for the second time, by 3-1 in a tight and mesmerising encounter with Colin McNestrie (Tynemouth).
An impressive 17 entrants for the Over 55s were eventually whittled down to two Tynemouth 2nd team colleagues, top seed Jon Evans and 3/4 seed Richard Bradley. In the final, Jon rediscovered his top form at just the right time to glide almost imperceptibly to a 3-0 victory and claim his fifth Over 55 crown after a gap of five years.
Racketball, now in its sixth year, had its sixth new champion, novice Tom Cornell (Newcastle University) overcoming Matthew Setterfield (Westoe) 3-1 in the final with a racket borrowed from the club shop.
Full Draws & Results : t.ly/hxTp