Saturday 18th January brought us the first of this year's County Championships, the 50 & over mixed doubles event. The event had a healthy entry but a few late withdrawals left the tournament with a field of 13 pairs which included plenty of new faces as well as previous champions, Janette Harris and Peter Wilkinson.
The event started with three qualifying round robin groups, all playing each other once within their group before moving on to the main draw and consolation stages. The top 2 pairs from each group as well as the strongest finishing 3rd place pairs would move into the main draw.
With 35 matches already played during the event, this set up a semi final between Mark Green & Aafke Ninteman against Nick White & Magali Danson and on the other half of the draw, Greg Turner & Gaynor Hawthornthwaite versus Peter Wilkinson & Janette Harris. Both semi finals gave the spectators some incredible tennis to watch but it was Mark & Aafke who set a final against last year's runners up, Peter & Janette.
The final provided the longest match of the afternoon, an absolute joy to watch with some very close games throughout. Mark & Aafke eventually got the break they needed which they managed to consolidate, resulting in them securing this year's championships!
Congratulations to all of this year's players on helping to create another competitive and successful event.
For full results please click here.



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