GUERNSEY players did their island proud at the Credit Suisse Jersey Junior Open. Nearly 30 Sarnian juniors aged between nine and 17 made the trip to join the home players and 12 from England and Wales at the annual competition, which is split into four age groups.

Guernsey’s golden girl on this occasion was 16 year-old Kiara Green.

Currently ranked 92, she stormed past Philippa Rogers, who is placed 50 places above her, in the under-19 semi-final to set up the first of two encounters against the younger Rogers sister, Hayley, the number one seed.

The remarkable junior from Cheshire turned 14 in November, is ranked 18 in the English under-19 list and has represented her country at under-15 and 17 levels.

In the under-19 final, Green struggled to match Rogers.

The Sarnians lost the first set 13-21, but she learnt as she went and in the second used her powerful smash to good effect and it was nip and tuck to 19-all.

But the England international showed a cool head and fabulous control on her net play to take it 21-19.

In the U17 final, Green had identified a couple of slight weaknesses in her opponent’s tactics and led 19-15 in the first game, but once again the younger player showed real class in staying cool and she moved Green all around the court to level at 20-all.

There were two long and energy sapping rallies, and the England player just edged the game 23-21.

But Green has true grit and continued her powerful game plan deservedly taking the second 21-16.

The third was a real test for both girls, who were clearly tiring, but Rogers’ tenacity was hard to match and she edged ahead to win 21-14, but Green can be justifiably proud to come so close to beating an England player.

Guernsey youngsters dominated the under-13 age group, winning every discipline.

In the boys singles, Ben Enevoldsen continued to show his potential.

His straight sets victory over Caesarean Brett Goodfellow, who is two years his senior, provided proof that his coach, development officer Paul Le Tocq, looks for in continuing his Elite Player Training Programme.

Enevoldsen, with partner Luke Le Tissier in the boys doubles, and Emily Trebert with partner Hannah Spittal all continued their dominance at this age group and it bodes well for the future.

In the under-15s, the Guernsey juniors came up against strong opposition from England and Jersey.

A new partnership of Harry Southwell and Glenn Le Tissier was Guernsey’s strongest pair.

Both are in the Elite Training Programme and played consistent shots with good court coverage to reach the final. Their English opposition proved too strong on this occasion, though.

Emily Trebert and Hannah Spittal (both 13 this month) played in the higher age group to gain experience for next year’s event.

Again they were dominant and came out victors of the girls doubles while Trebert also reached the singles final, but lost narrowly to the Jersey number one, Natasha Hutchings.

The UK visitors dominated the under-17 events.

Their strength and consistent shot play shows the dedication to their national training programmes which is almost impossible for Guernsey to match.

This provided the Sarnians with invaluable experience, many of whom were playing in a higher age group.

Kent’s Danny Groom showed his class in winning both the under-17 and 19 singles titles.

For Guernsey’s Jed Le Page the under-19s was a memorable event.

With partner, Jack Mason, they quietly won their round-robin division. They did this by drawing with the England-Jersey No. 1 seeded pairing of Adam Wright and Alex Hutchings.

In such situations, the points against decide which pair reaches the final.

Le Page and Mason went through by a four-point margin.

In the final, they narrowly lost to Jersey’s talented duo of Tom Gibbs and Ben Watson, but this was a great performance considering that Mason was carrying a wrist injury and the early stages of a chest infection.

Le Page had no formal partner in the mixed and to his good fortune he drew Philippa Rogers.

As a scratch pairing, they really made the most their position and reached the final, where they met the Jersey-Wales No. 1 seed pairing of Gibbs and Hannah Stephenson.

The first two games were shared 21-14, 18-21, but Le Page and Rogers could not secure the last, losing it 21-10.