Restricted Championships - Season 2003-2004 - 31/01/04

This tournament would've been a flop, if it wasn't for the organisers' rallying around, at the last minutes, to insert a large group of juniors into the competition. A big thank you should also go to the lassies who travelled from as far away as Dunbeath and Latheron, in stormy conditions.

If you were a betting man/woman, your money would've been on Marina to lift the Ladies Singles title and, I'm sure she thought so herself, being 10-2 up in the last set and only needing one point. But, the stocky, stubborn junior, Kirsty Grant was having none of it and pulled the final set back to 10-10 with some excellent singles play that showed the fighting spirit, that more CBA seniors should adopt to their game. With the crowd sitting in anticipation, rally after rally - Kirsty held her nerve, managed not to speak too much and clinched the final point in good style to lift the Ladies Restricted Singles title.

Young Stephen 'Hill-Man Imp' is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in any County competition. Something that has not been seen since the days of now 'old-dood', Johnnie Durrand or, dare I say it, 'Sky Sports', himself. He managed to lift the mens singles' title in two games against last years winner, Ian 'head till toe' Nicolson. Although, there were a number of long rallies, great retrieving and tight shots, it always looked like the young pretender had everything under control, winning with a perfectly executed cross court drop.

Both the Mens and Ladies Doubles titles went to the number one seeded competitors - namely, Stephen Hill & Ian Nicolson and Marina Finlayson and Hilary Geddes.
The Miller Calder duo of Mark Jones and Graeme Beck put up a good performance but the Wick pairing had that extra experience of hard, fast games which shone through in the final.
Isobel Mackay and Susan Craigie of Dunnet, battled to try and tumble the favourites and, sometimes the crowd thought another shock was on the cards but the power of the County girls shook them in the final few points, leaving the Miller Calder ladies with another notch to their belts in this competition.

The final of the mixed doubles was, as the name of the tournament sounds - mixed, with a Tech (Russell Craigie) and Miller Calder (Marina Finlayson) players coming together and a Wick (Andrew Falconer) and Dunnet (Isobel Mackay) partnership.
The tie had Russell and Marina as the favourites written all over it but Bella Ratter was having none of this and decided to play some old school 'tic-tacs' and play her 'joker card', insulting her opponents, before the kick-off. With only a couple of minutes before the start, Bella went into, 'attack-mode' and dug deep into Raz with comments regarding the round figured chappies cholesterol levels and how this was going to hinder his performance.....
Little was she aware that Raz had his own plans and focused straight away on piling serves and shots to the back of the court, where Bella obviously finds this to be an unknown territory, nowadays. The first game past by quickly with Marina & Raz cruising to an early lead. Andrew, then decided he wanted more of the action and started to take hold of the second set, providing longer rallies and accurate shots to the corners and front of the court, allowing Isobel to focus in an area where she has a 'gold star' at playing, the net and managing to get her body in a shape contortionists find difficult. But, after continuous tight points, Marina and Raz had that extra edge and managed to lift the title with a couple of extra points to spare.

Well done to the organisers, competitors and especially the juniors - who showed that CBA will be running for a long while, yet, with some excellent and grown-up play.

Winners:-

• Mens Singles:- Stephen Hill beat Ian Nicolson
  • Mens Singles Plate:- S Mackenzie beat M Steven
• Ladies Singles:- Kirsty Grant beat Marina Finlayson
  • Ladies Singles Plate:- M Cowie beat M Rose
• Mens Doubles:- S Hill & I Nicolson beat M Jones & G Beck
  • Mens Doubles Plate:- L Morrill & M Hicks beat M Steven & S Mackenzie
• Ladies Doubles:- M Finlayson & H Geddes beat I Mackay & S Craigie
  • Ladies Doubles Plate:- M Cowie & D Stewart beat K Grant & A McBeath
• Mixed Doubles:- R Craigie & M Finlayson beat A Falconer & I Mackay

Photos

Ladies' Singles Final - Kirsty (winner) v Marina (Runner-Up)	Men's Singles Final & Mens Doubles Winners- Stephen Hill (winner) v Ian Nicolson (Runner-Up)
Mixed Doubles' Winners - Marina Finlayson & Russell Craigie	Mixed Doubles' Runners-Up - Andrew Falconer & Isabel Mackay
Mens Singles action	The 6 point girls....... Ladies Doubles action
Mens Doubles action	Mixed Doubles action
Exhibitionists.....

Ladies Doubles' final action

Mens Doubles' final action

Ladies Doubles action

Mens Doubles action

Mixed Doubles' semi-final action

Mixed Doubles action

End-of-Document