TENNIS: Inexperience no barrier at Taunton finals day (From This is The West Country)

TENNIS: Inexperience no barrier at Taunton finals day

3:39pm Monday 17th September 2012 in Sport

Taunton Tennis Club Chairman Mike Lynch submitted this tongue-in-cheek round-up of the club's successful finals day.

The club tournament finals went well last Sunday: the weather was positively summery, eight finals were played and we even had spectators.

There were some very good matches, and we rounded off the afternoon with plenty of sandwiches and cake.

As you can see from the results, the Gardner family did rather well, and experience is perhaps not all it's cracked up to be.

Results: Men's singles: Rohan Gardner (16) beat Jon Warren (20 something) 6-3, 6-4.

Women's singles: Ellie Gardner (14, I think) beat Beth Lacey (12) 6-3, 6-0. Can you say youth lost out when the winner is 14?

Men's doubles: Rohan Gardner (16) and Alec Blake (17) beat Mike Lynch (50 something) and Neil Dennis (even older, really!) 6-2, 6-3.

Women's doubles: Nicki Gardner (21) and Ellie Gardner (14) beat the slightly more experienced pairing of Sue Key and Jane Hudson 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Mixed doubles: Beth Eccles and Rohan Gardner (combined age less than Kerry, apparently) beat Kerry Quirk and Mike Lynch (old enough to be Kerry's father) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8).

Men's singles plate: Ravi Gouni (30 something) beat Glenn Clarke (18) 6-0, 6-1. There it is: the exception that proves the rule!

Men's doubles plate: Glenn Clarke and Joe Chandler-Payne (18 + 18) beat Brian Nutt (more than 18 + 18) and David Walter (about 18 + 18) 7-5, 7-6.

Mixed doubles plate: Youth triumphed again: Jayne Clasby and David Walter beat the equally youthful Corinne Giles and the somewhat more evergreen Colin Davey 6-0, 6-2.