4:30pm Thursday 9th July 2009
TOP seeds Georgia Wheatley and Ryan Peniston are on their way to Wimbledon after winning a county tennis tournament.
Georgia, Thorpe Bay member, and Ryan, who plays at Garons, will be playing at the London venue next month in the prestigious Road to Wimbledon competition.
The pair won their finals, defeating two other Southend-based players, to earn the right to take on other under-14 county champs during the week commencing August 17.
Georgia and Ryan had both won through their club tournaments to make the county final, which featured either winners or runners-up.
Both the winners had an easy passage to their final matches at the county tennis headquarters at Redbridge, with Ryan only losing five games in the home tournament.
Georgia defeated Garons player Elle Wilson 6-1 6-1 in the girls’ semi-final, with Connaught’s Tanya Li earning her place in the final with a 4-6 7-5 1-0 (10) victory over Angela Borowski of Clearview.
The final saw Georgia win in straight sets, beating Tanya 6-4 6-3, while Angela won the third/fourth place play-off with a 3-6 6-4 1-0 (8) win over Elle.
Ryan saw off Jaime Wright of Billericay 6-2 6-1 in their semi, while Westcliff Hard’s Max Chesher defeated Connaught’s Tony Akbari 7-6 (5) 6-1.
The final saw Ryan beat Max 6-1 6-0, while Jaime took third place following a play-off walkover.
A total of 28 clubs and schools entered the tournament which culminated with 23 girls and 46 boys competing over the four final days.
The event was organised and refereed by Westcliff couple Lesley and Ian Pitt, who reported some excellent tennis being played.
Prizes were presented to the finalists by Richard Bearman, HSBC area commercial director of Thames Gateway.
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