Tennis: Albany Open a winner

Multiple Albany Open title winner Glenn Thompson and partner Justin Maguire won valuable early games to ensure they were the 2012 men’s A-grade winners at Lawley Park tennis courts on Saturday.

Picture by Laurie Benson: Emma Russell teamed up with Matt Thompson to win the A-grade mixed doubles at Emu Point Tennis Club on Sunday.

The top-seeds played off for honours in the seven-game roundrobin against powerful duo and second seeds, Albany Advertiser editor Nathan Watson and David Kerr, needing only three games in the final set to win the title.

Watson opened with trademark big serving to take the first game, but Thompson replied just as quickly to level scores.

Games were on serve until Thompson and Maguire eventually took the vital break after a deuce game on Kerr’s serve to lead 4-3.

Kerr and Watson immediately broke back to level the set and another big serving game from Watson gave him and Kerr the lead at 4-5 before they went on to break Thompson’s final serve and take the match in hot conditions.

The win put Watson and Kerr on even ground with their opposition, but it was not enough to secure overall victory as they finished the tournament with 38 games, two behind Thompson and Maguire.

It was the fourth time Thompson has been part of a winning combination since 2005, but the veteran player said it was one of the closest games he’d played.

“You never want to lose a match but we knew we only needed three games to win and managed to get four,” he said.

“(Watson and Kerr) dropped a set early, but after that we couldn’t get near Nathan’s serve and both he and David played really well.”

Thompson said he drew inspiration from 43-year-old Macguire, who played despite severe gout in one of his feet.

“He’s an old warhorse and just the fact he finished the tournament was a feat in itself,” he said.

In the ladies’ A-grade, played at Emu Point on Saturday, Sam Capararo and Nicola Thompson won over runners-up Jenny Rickerby and Mary Harma by a set and four games.

The mixed doubles grades played at Emu Point on Sunday, Matt Thompson and Emma Russell defeated Les Bairstow and Capararo on a close countback in the A-grade, while two B-grade divisions battled it out on court in windy conditions.

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