The Rye Annual Invitation Tournament took place over four days of mixed summer weather from Friday, August 4 to Monday, August 7, with around 200 players coming together to do battle on the club’s outstanding grass courts.
The standard of tennis was extremely high throughout. The men’s singles final saw the top two seeds come through, with nineteen-year-old Thomas Drayton up against Camden Hill’s Dusan Miljevic. An appreciative crowd watched some fierce rallying from both sides and this year the talented teenager, now training in Alicante and twice a runner-up, came through to take the title.
In the ladies’ singles, Croatian former ITF player Iva Saric, the number one seed, faced last year’s winner Marine Beugre-Guyot from France. Some powerful play from both sides saw a close first set but ultimately Saric came through a Rye winner for the second time.
The ladies’ doubles final was a contest between two partnerships from London’s Cumberland Club, with Marine Beugre-Guyot joining Grace Kritzinger to take on Lauren Hewett and Andra Marinescu. After some hard hitting and tight rallies, Marine this time came out on top.
In the men’s doubles final, previous Rye winner Mark Hadley teamed up with Hurlingham’s Josh Redstone to face top seeds Dusan Miljevic and Henry Moore, who had earlier played each other in the singles semis. With some fearsome ground strokes and quick-fire net play, Hadley and Redstone just gained the upper hand and took the closely contested match.
The mixed doubles saw Marine Beugre-Guyot back on court again, this time with Matthew Jake Kritzinger, for a second battle against Iva Saric playing with Rupert de Laszlo. This time Marine succeeded in getting her nose ahead to take a second 2023 title.
Next year will see a strong American challenge in the form of ten talented young players from Harvard and Yale, competing prior to their biennial Prentice Cup (men) and Seabright Cup (ladies) matches against Oxford and Cambridge on the grass courts of Wimbledon in August.
The B groups and handicap sections also witnessed a high standard of play, with some very competitive matches and wins for Rye LTC members David Wallis playing with Drew Gibbs in the men’s doubles, Philip Harper in the men’s singles and Freddie Menzies and Roxy Cox in the mixed doubles.
After a washout on Saturday, thanks must go to referees Chris Gorringe and Jonathan Jempson for bringing the tournament to a successful close, with all the finals completed by early Monday evening. The tennis week continues with the Two Generation Tournament and Junior Tennis Tournament followed by the members’ closed tournament and invitation mixed doubles over the weekend.
After ten days of tournaments at the club, Hotshotz Tennis will be running a multisport children’s camp (tennis, padel, table tennis and squash) from Monday, August 14 to Friday, August 18. You can book a place at https://hotshotztennis.co.uk/product/rye-multi-sports-summer-camp-all-ages/
Image Credits: Zoe Richmond-Watson , Rye LTC .