Thomas Guignat and Yat Poon won the blue riband competitions at a hugely successful Liverpool Centenary Senior 4*.
With more than 140 competitors in action across the weekend at Wavertree Tennis Centre, it was a vibrant competition which celebrated 100 years of the Liverpool League.
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Thomas Guignat of France beat top seed Chris Doran 3-1 (7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9) to win the Men’s Open Singles title and with it the £500 top prize. The prize fund was donated by Liverpool-based international umpire Dr Sunil Sapre.

Doran did not drop a game in the knockout stage before the final, including beating Victor Guang Shi in the semi-finals by a 3-0 (11-8, 15-13, 11-8) margin.
That ruined the chance of a final between Shi and Guignat, who won World Masters silver as a doubles pair. Guignat reached the final with a 3-0 (12-10, 11-5, 11-8) semi-final victory over Kieran Walker. Guignat also did not drop a game before the final.

A see-saw final saw second seed Yat Poon defeat top seed Sophie Earley in the Women’s Singles final. It was 3-2 (11-7, 9-1, 11-4, 6-11, 12-10) to the victor.


Both semi-finals were done in three games – Earley beat Patricia Ianau 11-6, 15-13, 11-7 and Poon got past Mabel Shute 11-7, 11-9, 11-9.
There was another back-and-forth tussle in the final of the Under-21 Men’s Open Singles, before Rex Wong shook off Francesco Bonato 3-2 (11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-4).

In the semi-finals, Wong beat Harrison Hill 3-0 (6, 5, 7) and Bonato overcame Jake Davidson 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-8) in the battle of the left-handers.
There were some good matches in the quarter-finals, including Wong’s 3-2 (15-13, 8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7) win over Harry Tomlinson, and Hill’s 3-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9) victory against Fraser Massey. Bonato got past William Hopkins 3-2 (5-11, 12-10, 7-11, 15-13, 11-6) in the first round.

The round-robin Under-21 Women’s Singles was won by Sophie Earley, who won all three matches against Mabel Shute, Brooke Morris and Tsoi Kiu Lee. Morris was the only one to take a game off Earley – it finished 3-1 (11-8, 11-3, 8-11, 11-7) in Earley’s favour.
Shute was second, while Morris beat Lee 3-2 (11-13, 11-9, 8-11, 14-12, 11-6) to take third place.
Victor Guang Shi & Thomas Guignat won World Masters silver but could not overcome Chris Doran & Jakub Kurowski in the Men’s Open Doubles final.
It was a tight match, though, which the winners took by a scoreline of 3-2 (12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3).
In the semi-finals, Doran & Kurowski won 3-1 (7-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-9) against Alim Hirji & Rikuto Morota, while Guignat & Shi won 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-4) against Francesco Bonato & Frederic Wilke.
The Women’s Doubles was round-robin and it was Mabel Shute & Sophie Earley who came out on top. They won the only match to go to a fifth, 3-2 (11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 1-11, 11-5) against Aneta Kula & Patricia Ianau. The losing pair finished third, losing out to mother-and-daughter combo Larisa & Aleksandra Titievskaja.
Banded competitions
Men’s Open Band 1 was won by Jake Davidson, who fought off a comeback by Adam Jepson to win 3-2 (11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6) in the final.
Davidson had defeated Joey Chen 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-5) in the semi-finals, where Jepson had to fight hard to get the better of No 1 veteran Lorestas Trumpauskas 3-2 (3-11, 11-9, 11-8, 12-14, 11-5).

Larisa Titievskaja beat her daughter Aleksandra by walkover to take the Women’s Band 1 final, with Sara Williams and Natalia Ivanova in the semi-finals.
It was an all-Ukrainian final in Men’s Band 2 as Oleh Biletskyi overcame Stanislav Chornobaiev 3-0 (12-10, 11-6, 12-10) to take the title.
The champion got past Toby Harwood 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-7) in the semi-finals, while Chornobaiev needed four to advance against Ferenc Horvath (11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9).

In Women’s Band 2, Natalia Ivanova defeated top seed Sara Williams 3-0 (12-10, 11-9, 11-7), having beaten No 2 seed Larisa Titievskaja 3-2 (8-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6 in the semi-finals.
Williams’ semi-final victory was a more routine 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-7) win over Aneta Kula.

William Hopkins got the better of Ronan Lamont Tierney in Men’s Band 3, winning the final 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-8).
Hopkins had a tough match with Rowan Kumar in the quarter-finals, winning 3-2 (11-4, 10-12, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7), and then went on to beat Ho Ching Mak 3-0 (10, 9, 9) in the semis.
Lamont Tierney had two five-game matches en route to the final, first overcoming Anatol Gasiorowski 3-2 (9-11, 7-11, 11-2, 11-2, 11-6) in the first round then Sean Mills 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6) in the semi-finals.

Women’s Band 3 was won by Kelsey Fordham, who had a great final against Chloe Ireland, recovering from losing the first game and winning 3-1 (9-11, 12-10, 16-14, 11-5).

Fordham doubled up as she also won Women’s Band 4, a round-robin event which saw her win her three matches against Ireland, Shiromi Aponso and Dolma Lama Prossor, all without dropping a game – though Prossor pushed her to 17-15 in the first game of their clash. Aponso was second and Ireland third.
Serhii Herheliuk won the Men’s Band 4 title, defeating Gareth Hitchcock-Spencer 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-1, 11-6) in the final.
Both semi-finals went to five, and Herheliuk had to come from 2-0 down to overcome Jacob Davies 3-2 (4-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10).
Hitchcock-Spencer also came from behind – he was 2-1 down before beating Rowan Kumar 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3).

Karl Watt was the bright light in Men’s Band 5, taking the title as he edged three tight games 12-10, 11-9, 18-16 against David Lawless.
Watt beat Nathan Collins 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5) in the semi-finals, while Lawless withstood a comeback by Chris Creely before winning 3-2 (11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 4-11, 11-5).
Lawless had five-game matches in both the previous rounds, beating Aleksandr Klimenko 3-2 (6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11) in the first round and Chun Yat Cheung 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6) in the quarter-finals.

Watt’s win in Band 5 made up for the disappointment of losing the Men’s Band 6 final to Harvey Beattie 3-0 (11-6, 14-12, 13-11).
Watt had recovered a 2-0 deficit in the semi-finals, beating Joshua Kelly 3-2 (9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4), while Beattie defeated Sebastian Hitchcock-Spencer 3-1 (7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 12-10).


