Serving up a performance: Jack Oldfield reached the final in Bolton. (0545474)
JACK OLDFIELD enjoyed a successful run at the under-11 Winter Indoor Series event at the Bolton Arena and High Performance Centre.
He went all the way to the final before succumbing to the top seed.
The tournament was a pre-qualifier for a qualifying event to the under-11 Grand Prix – a series of three tournaments ending with a Masters Event for the top 16 boys in the country.
Oldfield’s opponents in Bolton had similar to or higher ratings than him and, presumably, had not started the day at 5am to get to the venue, which the Guernsey junior did.
His first match was against Josh Clayton from Lancashire and, despite a slow start, it quickly went Oldfield’s way as he found his service rhythm, winning comfortably 6-1, 6-2.
The second match was against the second seed, Sebastian Mactaggart, winner of the Wirral Junior Open and rated among the top four under-12s in Cheshire.
Oldfield knew his opponent was going to be a tougher competitor but played very aggressively and pulled off many winners in clinching the match 6-2, 6-4.
That put him into the semi-finals against Oliver Harford of Lancashire and the Sarnian stormed through 6-2, 6-0 despite not feeling he had played his best.
Now only Jake Fisher, the No. 1 seed, stood in his way of winning the title.
Fisher is the Lancashire county champion and earlier this year played in both the clay-court national championships and the British Junior National Invitation events in this age group. He is ranked about 10th nationally.
The first set saw Oldfield struggle to make an impact against a very solid and strong opponent who could seemingly get every ball back into play.
Oldfield lost the set 0-6 and trailed the second 2-5 before deciding to play more aggressively and begin to dominate, with defeat apparently so close.
Fisher tired from all the chasing and Oldfield won the set 7-5, with the final set being decided on a champion’s tie break (10 points). Oldfield pushed Fisher hard but lost 10-7.
Consolation came with the news that he had made it through to the qualifying draw of the main Grand Prix, which unfortunately takes place at the same time as a school football tour he is required for.
However, coach Jo Robinson says skill development is still the key at this point.
‘Whether or not Jack travels to another qualifying event in the UK, he is aware of the national standard and what it takes to succeed in this game.
‘He is continuing to train hard and will benefit just as much at this stage from regular matches against some of the older Jersey players.’
Robinson added that a small core of local players were now travelling to Jersey more regularly for competitions at weekends and that this is an important element in their overall development.
Among them is Zachary Clark, another talented 10-year-old, who this weekend plays in the Channel Islands Winter Indoor Series Under-12 Match play.
Locally there are now competitions every Sunday, with three different age groups running on a rolling basis from week to week. For an entry form contact ianrob@ cwgsy.net.
Article posted on 11th October, 2008 - 9.29am
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