27/03/23: The 2023 Kinnaird Cup final in association with Advanta Wealth will pit Riki Houlden & Hugo Young against Tom Dunbar & Seb Cooley, who will be going for their 13th successive win in the competition.
R.Houlden & H.Young (1) beat E.Taylor & N.Caplin (4) w/o
T.Dunbar & S.Cooley (2) beat J.Ho & J.Hopkins (6) 3-0 (12-7, 14-12, 12-5) Watch GAME ONE of this semi-final
Riki & Hugo's passage to the final was confirmed a couple of days before the scheduled semi-finals, after a badly timed injury to Noah Caplin in a practice match on Wednesday evening meant that he and Ed Taylor had to withdraw from the competition.
Seb & Tom had to overcome the tough challenge of familiar foe Jonny Ho and first time semi-finalist James Hopkins, conquerors of former champions James Toop & Matt Wiseman in an epic quarter-final a couple of weeks ago. These two pairs played each other in the semi-final of the London Tournament before Christmas, which resulted in a relatively straightforward win for Tom & Seb. It was clear from the outset yesterday that James had already come a long way since then, not surprising as this is his first serious season of senior Fives after his return to the game following a highly successful school Fives career at Highgate.
This was a high quality match from start to finish and kept a healthy crowd enthralled throughout. The three games took two and a half hours to complete and very few cheap points were given away by either pair at any stage. Tom & Seb looked in fine fettle after a season that has been rather disrupted by injury and illness and they needed to be to hold off the Cholmeleian pair, who will be disappointed not to have taken the second game, having come from 7-11 down to level at 11-11. A 1-1 scoreline at that point might have produced a very different match, but Tom & Seb produced the necessary mental strength and moments of quality to win the second 14-12 and never looked like losing the third, despite Jonny & James continuing to produce some outstanding play of their own and announcing themselves as serious contenders for major honours if they continue to play together and improve as a pair.
For Tom & Seb, this was yet another fine victory to keep up their incredible unbeaten run in the Kinnaird Cup - they have still never been beaten in the competition having won every edition since their first together as a pair in 2011. Can they keep the run going next week in the final against Riki & Hugo? All will be revealed next Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm on the courts at Berkhamsted Prep School.