Ryan's red-hot summer (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Ryan's red-hot summer

1:00pm Tuesday 7th July 2009 in

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ODIHAM’S Ryan Golesworthy continues his excellent start to the summer tennis season. He crossed the county border to Shalford, Surrey to play in two tournaments on the same day.

Golesworthy, aged seven, took part in the mini-red eight and under event, playing seven matches in the morning, beating Hook’s Rohith Manikonda 10-7 in a hard fought final, as Hampshire boys finished first and second.

In the afternoon both boys played in the mini-orange nine and under tournament with Manikonda taking third place.

Golesworthy played Shalford’s James Green in an outstanding final with great play from both boys, but he won it 10-12, 7-4, 7-1 to take the tournament.

The Odiham player then moved onto the Eastleigh Open to play in the nine and under category, which was an invitational cross-county event.

In his box Golesworthy beat George James of Wiltshire 7-5, 7-5. His next match was against Ethan Parker of Sussex, who took him to three sets, 5-7, 7-6, 7-5.

The seven-year-old ended up top of the box by beating Dorset’s Natalie Carter 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 in another tense three-set match.

In the semi-final, the Odiham player came up against fellow county player Matthew Whitehead, winning 7-6, 7-6.

That set up a final against Dorset’s Ben Samuel, and in a very close match the Hampshire player edged home 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 to lift the shield.

Golesworthy’s coach, Mike Booth, said: “This was an outstanding performance from Ryan, seeing that he was only selected for the event at the last minute.

“The tournament had some of the best players from Hampshire, Wiltshire, Sussex, Avon and Dorset attending.

“Ryan’s win is all the more impressive given he was the youngest to attend; most of the players were nearly a year older. This means that Ryan is one of the top players for his age in the south-west area.”