James Toop has reaffirmed his position as the top singles player in Rugby Fives at the moment by sealing his fifth successive – and sixth in total – N/national Singles title. For the third year running, he beat Will Ellison in the final, and although the scores looked quite close, James was always in control.
The first round went more or less according to the seedings, apart from the two closest matched opponents, Tom Dean v Marco Skogh and Chris Burrows v Charlie Brooks, going to three games with the lower seed (Skogh and Brooks respectively) coming from behind to win in both cases. In fact, the top six seeds were all comfortable in their wins, despite a couple of the games looking enticing on paper.
Matt Cavanagh was at his consistent best in the quarter finals, overturning 4th seed John Minta in straight games. It was nip and tuck in the first game before Matt pulled away at the end, carrying the momentum through to cause the only upset of the round. Tom Maconie pushed Dan Tristao very hard in the other half of the draw, but couldn’t produce the winners at the business end of the games. James and Will both wore down their opponents, and Marco Skogh’s loss ended local interest in the main draw.
The first semi final saw James take a commanding lead against Matt, but a string of points put Matt within touching distance. That was the closest anyone came to putting James under pressure all tournament, and he responded to it by closing the game out quickly and taking the second to 4.
The second semi final between Dan and Will was easily the match of the tournament, with many a twist and turn along the way. Will started off phenomenally well, pulling winners out all over the place to take the first game to 3 and when he took a huge 11-1 lead in the second, a thrashing was on the cards. Dan slowly turned the game on its head though by changing his tactics, and when he fought back to win the second game with Will beginning to cramp up, it looked like he was favourite to win. They traded the lead in the third before Will’s cramp returned and an injury time out was taken; when they came back, Will clearly still in a lot of pain, Dan stormed ahead. Will somehow found another gear to stay in the hunt, and after they had both seen a match point come and go, Will hit a fantastic winner on his second chance to take the game and the match.
Undoubtedly fatigued the next morning, Will never got to grips with James’s relentless retrieval and his ability to keep his opponent on the move with a great length and changes in pace. There was a brief spell at the start of the second game when Will came out all guns blazing to take a few points, but James weathered the storm and asserted his dominance once more.
The plate was a closely fought contest, with Matt Bowness winning through despite a sore back to ensure some silverware for the Manchester Y Club, and Tom Dean finishing runner-up.
Results
1st round: J Toop bt N Roberts 15-2, 15-0; M Skogh bt T Dean 8-15, 15-11, 15-5; M Cavanagh bt E Hatton 15-5, 15-3; J Minta bt S Fraser 15-2, 15-8; D Tristao bt N Patel 15-9, 15-2; T Maconie bt M Bowness 15-5, 15-7; C Brooks bt C Burrows 11-15, 15-2, 15-7; W Ellison bt R Murby 15-4, 15-2
Quarter-finals: Toop bt Skogh 15-1, 15-2; Cavanagh bt Minta 15-10, 15-4; Tristao bt Maconie 15-13, 16-14; Ellison bt Brooks 15-9, 15-5
Semi-finals: Toop bt Cavanagh 15-11, 15-4; Ellison bt Tristao 15-3, 13-15, 16-15
Final: Toop bt Ellison 15-0, 15-6
Plate: Bowness
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