Isle of Man Lawn Tennis Association Junior Championships took place at Douglas Lawn Tennis Club recently.    

The nine-and-under competition was first to complete, with Tommy Jelly winning the boys and Tommie Manuja runner-up while in the girls it was Zara Stefanovic who took the title with Elizabeth Oberholzer runner-up.  

In the 10-and-under boys it was Jasper Hill who defeated Ivan Yordanov 4-2 in a competitive and high-quality match, with both players showing exceptional skill and power for their age.   

In the girls it was a box of four girls all of a very similar level and no-one able to dominate all the other players.  It came down to a final match between Erin Blyth and Ishana Kirkham, with the latter needing to win 4-0 to win the title.   

At 2-0 she looked in a good position until Erin’s strong play got the match back to 3-3 and a tie-break was played, with Erin winning [7-5] to take the title and with this result promoting Esmae her sister to runner-up and Ishana missing out in third.  

In the 12-and-under it was Seth Hornby-Wheeler who topped the group with Elias Parry runner-up, while in the girls it was a much tighter affair with all matches going to a third set champions tie-break to decide the winner of each match.   

Emily Moyer beat Sophia Shooter [18-16] and then Sophia Shooter beat Charlotte Mackenzie [10-8] and then in the final match Emily Moyer finally got the better of Charlotte Mackenzie [10-7] with two stunning backhands to take the title, with Sophia Shooter runner-up. All the girls played great tennis.  

With a break in the singles action, three doubles matches were played. In the 18-and-under boys doubles Orry Farnworth and Max Blocking beat Tristan Pretorius and Sonny Shipley-Martin 6/1, 6/0.  

In two new events for ‘junior player and parent’, there were two age categories: under-10 played with orange ball and u18 played with green ball.  

In the u10s Ava Moyer and her dad Pete took on Ishana Kirkham and her mum Ayesha. It was Ava and Pete who won two champions tie-breaks [10-7], [10-8].   

In the u18 Tristan Pretorius and his mum Michelle took on Max Bocking and his dad Dave, with Tristan and Michelle winning 4/0, 1/4, [10-5].  

The main action then continued with the boys and girls 14-and-under competition. In the boys Seth Hornby-Wheeler beat Rohan Chandilya 6/4, 6/2, while in the girls Abigail Cowell beat Ayessa Gilbang 6/2, 6/2 - both matches were close contests over 90 minutes. In the boys 18-and-under, Orry Farnworth beat Tristan Pretorius 6/0, 6/0.  

The final event was the eight-and-under boys and girls playing over two hours in the afternoon on two red ball courts in a round robin format.  

In the boys competition it was Tommy Jelly who finished top with Tommie Manuja runner-up, while in the girls competition it was Zara Stefanovic who topped the group ahead of Olivia Romaj.  

Following the completion of play and a short break for tea, the presentations were made.  Andy Farnworth, chairman of the Isle of Man LTA, thanked all players for entering and the tournament referee Paul Jarvis for organising and scheduling the junior competition which he has been doing for over 20 years.    

In addition to the age group winners and runners-up there were two additional awards. The best under-18 player went to Orry Farnworth, the winner of the u18 singles and the men’s singles on Saturday.   

The most improved player over the last 12 months - the Junior Performance Award - this year went to Seth Hornby-Wheeler who won the u12 and u14 boys titles.  

In closing, the tournament referee thanked all the players for turning up when scheduled and noted that, at the completion of the tennis championships, 140 matches had been played over nine days.   

With the Douglas, Albany and Castletown Club Championships taking place this month and also a UK men’s and women’s tour scheduled for this weekend, there is still plenty of tennis to be played.  

PAUL JARVIS