The 2012 London Open produced a feast of Fives, as well as one of the most nail-biting doubles finals in recent history. Grabbing the headlines were title-winners James Toop (in the singles) and Charlie Brooks and Tom Dean (in the doubles), but behind the headlines were plenty of amazing stories.
These started as early as the first round of the singles, when Tom Maconie – as well as organising the event – upset the seedings by knocking out BUCS singles champion Luke Thomson. Tom was then unlucky not to take a game off Dan Tristao in the quarter-finals.
Otherwise, the tournament followed the seedings, with the country's top four ranked singles players reaching the semi-finals: James Toop went on to defeat Matt Cavanagh fairly comfortably, but at the same time Will Ellison and Dan Tristao were engaged in the latest in their series of titanic clashes. Will took the first game easily, only for Dan to edge the second and send the match into a deciding third game. Here, Will took an early lead and seemed destined to close it out, but at a crucial point – and completely out of keeping with the rest of his play – hit four shots into the bar. This handed the momentum to Dan and it was he who came off court a surprised winner.
Come the final, though, there was to be no such escape. James was always in command and he took the match in two games to successfully defend the title he won last year at St Paul's.
Compared to the singles, the doubles event looked much harder to call, with several unfamiliar and relatively untried partnerships taking to the courts. As if to prove the point, one quarter-final featured the n/national doubles champions – Dan Grant and Dan Tristao – playing against each other, partnered by Gareth Price and Tom Chase respectively. It was a magnificent match that went right to the wire, with Dan and Gareth eventually winning 12-11 in the third game. Their 'reward' was a semi-final against defending champs, Will Ellison and Hal Mohammed, and it was the top seeds who won through to the final.
The second semi-final was between Tom Dean & Charlie Brooks and John Minta & James Toop, who had won through only after a tough three-game quarter-final with Hamish Buchanan & Chris Burrows. John and James did all they could, but in the end it was Old Paulines' power and consistency that saw them through.
In the first game of the final, that same combination looked set to win them the title at a canter. Despite going 0-5 down early on, they regrouped and took 11 unanswered points to win the game. In the second game, however, the defending champions upped their game: they seemed better able to cope with their opponents' power, cut out the errors and found winners of their own.
They took the second game to 8 and, in the third game, carried on where they had left off. Hal hit a succession of outright winners early in the game, while Will was able to soak up the pressure from Tom, all of which combined to give them a seemingly unassailable 10-5 lead. Amazingly, though, Charlie and Tom fought back, saving several match points and re-finding the line and length that had eluded for much of the final game. Both pairs had the chance to take the match as the third game reached a nail-biting climax, but it was Tom and Charlie who finally forced the error that gave them the title - and deserved round of applause from the spellbound spectators.
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RESULTS
Singles
Preliminary Round: B Beltrami bt P A'Hern 11-1,11-0; Z Brubert bt R Warner 11-6, 11-5
First Round: J Toop bt Z Brubert 11-1,11-0; D Grant bt C Burrows 11-6, 11-3; J Minta bt N Patel 11-6,11-2; M Cavanagh bt J Aquilina 11-3,11-2; W Ellison bt B Beltrami 11-2,11-1; H Buchanan bt J Tilston 11-2,11-2; T Maconie bt L Thomson 11-8,11-4; D Tristao bt R Dyke 11-2,11-2
Quarter-finals: Toop bt Grant 11-2,11-4; Cavanagh bt Minta 11-9,11-0; Ellison bt Buchanan 11-5,11-1; Tristao bt Maconie 11-2,12-11
Semi-finals: Toop bt Cavanagh 11-3,11-5; Tristao bt Ellison 1-11,11-8,11-8
Final: Toop bt Tristao 11-7,11-4
Plate: Burrows
Doubles
First round: L Thomson & E Hatton bt J Aquilina & J Tilston 11-4, 11-0; D Tristao & T Chase bt R Warner & R Matthieu 11-2, 11-3; J Toop & J Minta bt D Neale & R Bridge 11-0,11-0; A Pringle & T Maconie bt R Sutcliffe & J Walter 12-10,11-3
Quarter-finals: Ellison & Mohammed bt Thomson & Hatton 11-3, 9-6 retd; Grant & Price bt Tristao & Chase 11-8, 8-11, 12-11; Toop & Minta bt Burrows & Buchanan 11-9, 5-11, 11-3; Dean & Brooks bt Maconie & Pringle 11-2, 11-0
Semi-finals: Ellison & Mohammed bt Grant & Price 11-3, 11-6; Dean & Brooks bt Toop & Minta 11-6,11-4
Final: Dean & Brooks bt Ellison & Mohammed 11-5, 8-11, 12-11
Plate: Aquilina & J Tilston