Jack Carrington Tournament
Post date: Mar 07, 2020 8:22:30 AM
Phil Ogier retained the Jack Carrington trophy on Monday evening following a hard fought 3-2 win over fellow Lions player and 2009 champion Paul Hainsworth. The final between the top 2 seeds was a repeat of the previous season which had seen Ogier win over 4 sets.
The Jack Carrington tournament is one of the more unique events in the GTTA calendar as the rules prevent any player who has played in the Inter-Insular ‘Green Trophy’ event over the past 2 seasons from competing. This meant that Island players such as Joshua Stacey, Lawrence Stacey and Ben Foss were unable to compete this season.
The tournament was well represented with 24 players competing across 6 groups. The results went largely as expected with each of the 6 seeded players in the form of Ogier, Hainsworth, Ryan Gilson, Andy Gill, Jamie Ferbrache and Jez Powell emerging as group winners. The runners-up spots were also taken in each group by the expected players and in line with the current rankings and league averages. The last 16 clash between Ferbrache and leading 2nd Division player Kay Chivers provided the first surprise result of the night, with Chivers battling through in 4 sets after Ferbrache was threatening a comeback, courtesy of his aggressive forehand topspin strokes. Chivers’ strong run came to an end in the Quarter Finals, where she found left-handed 3rd seed Gilson too quick, with the younger player winning through in 4 sets. Ogier came through a competitive straight set encounter against Powell, whilst Hainsworth dropped a set during his 4-set win over Steve Ozanne. The final Quarter final saw another surprise result as 4th seed Andy Gill was narrowly edged out in 5 sets by 2nd Division player Martin Sarre. Sarre needed to battle back from 2-1 down before edging the decider 11-9 on his 2nd match point. The semi-finals were well contested, but ultimately Ogier and Hainsworth had too much quality for Sarre and Gilson respectively, with each coming through in straight sets.
The final turned out to be the expected clash between the highest ranked players in the competition and the encounter did not fail to disappoint for the spectators in attendance. The final was a replica of the previous season in that Hainsworth took the opening end, and also like last year Ogier replied by taking the 2nd and 3rd games with strong play. On this occasion Hainsworth was able to extend the match to a deciding end as he raised his level and benefitted from some errors on the way to comfortably winning the 4th . The quality of some of the rallies continued in the decider and Hainsworth started better, opening up a 4-2 lead. Ogier is renowned for his battling qualities, determination and high levels of concentration and he played excellently to steer the ship back his way, in the end coming through comfortably to clinch the title courtesy of an 11-6 triumph.