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).

Aleksandra Titievskaja beat her mother Larisa by walkover to take the Women’s Band 1 final, with Sara Williams and Natalia Ivanova in the semi-finals.
That does not show the full picture, however – Williams defeated top seed Aleksandra in the groups, but had to withdraw from her semi-final against Larisa because of a calf injury which also meant she had to pull out of the Women’s Singles. It meant only one of the three knockout matches was played – Aleksandra’s 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 13-11) win over Ivanova in the other semi.
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 – Williams had also defeated Ivanova in the group stage, but could not repeat the result in the final.

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).


