Affectionately know as the “last year on blaes” the 2017 South of Scotland Tennis Championship event was a great success with many great matches on the historic Moffat blaes, with one young lady creating history as she won 3 senior titles and 1 junior title to earn her place in the events history.  There were 18 events over the 7 days with players coming from all over Britain to stake their claim for each title.

Play started on a damp Sunday with the boys and girls 10s and 12s events with the 8s and under in the Sports Barn where the first winner of the event came from. We had 4 local players with 2 from Dumfries Tennis Club, Logan McCluskey and Cameron Hunter who were joined  by 2 from Beechgrove Tennis Club in Harry Brown and Oliver McKnight with Oliver Clark and Anna Phillips making up the six. After a round robin and the play-offs the final was Oliver Mc v Oliver C and despite playing really well and taking the lead Oliver Mc just couldn’t hold off Oliver C’s come back as he completed the win with an 11-9 score line. in the consolation event Cameron Hunter edge out Anna Phillips 10-8 to secure his medal.

Throughout the 7 days of play there was some great matches to watch with 35 locals involved in the weeks play with some local success at the end of the week. In the 45+ plus events Paul Boardman from Dalbeattie beat Barry Gibson-Smith 6-3, 6-1 to regain the trophy he had won last year and in the 45+ Doubles Dumfries duo Martin Wilson and Graeme Cross edge a close match against Paul and Stephen White from Dalbeattie 6-4, 5-7 & 10-7 to claim their first title in the South of Scotland Tennis Championship.

However, the 2017 championship will be remembered for 2 main reason, the first being that this should be the last ever time it is played on the Moffat blaes courts as these are due to be replaced with 6 new hard courts later this year and secondly, for the outstanding display from 14 years old Lucia Rizza who entered 4 events and walked away with all four titles. On the Wednesday Lucia won the 14s girls event and on super Saturday she claimed 3 senior events as she won the open ladies singles against Nicola Tweedy 7-6(5), 7-6(3), then added the open ladies doubles with partner Rosie Sterk to over come Nicola and Anna Kirk 7-6(3), 6-3 before completing the championships with another great display with her dad Frankie as they swept aside Michael and Fiona from Dumfries in the open mixed doubles 6-0, 6-1.

Another great championship with over 180 matches being completed throughout the week that covered the 18 events and again was supported by Magnox chapelcross site, D&G Council, SSE Clyde (D&G) Community Fund, Claudio’s restaurant Moffat and Beechgrove Tennis Club, without this help we would struggle to run this championship so thank you all. The full list of winners are;

8s Mixed – Oliver Clark bt Oliver McKnight, 10s Boys – Archie Agnew bt Callum Peat, 10s Boys Consolation – Daniel McKenna bt Flynn Dalgliesh, 10s Girls – Aimme Knowles bt Ellen Philips with Rose Brown and Kelley Scott finishing 3rd & 4th respectfully.

12s Boys – Liam O’Brien bt Sam Knowles, 12s Boys doubles – Liam O’Brien & Alexander English bt Sam Knowles & Leo Watt, 12s Girls – Amelia Pirt bt Hannah Glover, 14s boys – Robert Cowley bt Billy Blaydes & 14s Girls – Lucia Rizza bt Annemiek Sterk.

16s boys – Joshua Kean bt Billy Blaydes, 16s Boys Doubles – Joshua Kean & Charlie Miller bt Billy Blaydes & James Hale, 18s Boys – Charlie Miller bt Thomas Smart.

Men’s open – Charlie Miller bt Thomas Smart, Ladies open – Lucia Rizza bt Nicola Tweedy, Men’s open doubles – Robert Cowley & Thomas Smart bt Billy Blaydes & James Hale, Ladies open doubles – Lucia Rizza & Rosie Sterk bt Nicola Tweedy & Annan Kirk, Mixed doubles – Lucia & Frankie Rizza bt Fiona McCartney & Michael Goldie, 45+ singles – Paul Boardman bt Barry Gibson-Smith and finally the 45+ Doubles – Martin Wilson & Graeme Cross bt Paul Boardman & Stephen White.

South of Scotland Tennis Championship 2017 list of winners

Dumfries and Galloway Tennis are pleased to see so many young and experienced players taking part in this event which has a long tradition in the area and hopefully with the new courts it can go from strength to strength in years to come. Follow us on facebook @SoStennischampionship