NORTHANTS secured a creditable second spot in the winter-long 12 Counties tournament at Corby after the final round of matches on Sunday.
The county’s 14U age group was the final one to hit the courts, and experienced conflicting fortunes in Division 2B.
For while the boys enjoyed a clean sweep of victories – 4-0 against Leicestershire and Bedfordshire and 3-1 at the expense of overall tournament winners Essex – the girls suffered the flip side of the coin.
Fronted by Joe Tyler at the head of the rankings, the boys dropped just one rubber all day with Cameron Yuill and Sam Smith enjoying maximum returns, while Henry Masters won 2/3.
It was a different story for the girls, although Jessica Buchanan won a rubber, but the team which also consisted of Leah Milligan and the youthful Alex Lewis and Imogen Allen, warmed to their task throughout the day.
By virtue of the 14U sides securing five points between them, Northants took second spot with 24 points, just nicking that position by half a point from Leicestershire, with Bedfordshire back on 19.
Corby TC manager Craig Haworth explained: “This is a good result as all of the other counties have at least one LTA High Performance Centre or International Performance Centre whereas Corby is currently the only LTA Performance Centre in Northants.”
For the boys, Tyler was maintaining his 100 per cent record in representing Northants at 18U and 14U ages this year.
Tyler’s regular practise partner Jack Haworth also had a satisfying weekend, finishing ninth in the 16U Masters tournament at the National Tennis centre in London.
Drawn against Peter Molloy in the first round, the Northants junior went down 6-7, 6-2, 4-6 to place him in the consolation event. From there though, he built up a head of steam to achieve his best possible position
After scheduled opponent Thomas Wright withdrew, Haworth tackled British number 16 Miles McDowell and slammed down 18 aces or non-returnable serves to win 7-5, 7-5.
In the consolation final he then played Warwickshire’s Luke Oakley, the current British number 12, and won 6-3, 6-2, demonstrating a huge quantity of serve and ground stroke winners.
The result secured Haworth’s ranking as number six in Britain.