Harwich teenager India Webb was celebrating her first tournament victory at the weekend when she carried all before her at the Boston Open in Lincolnshire.
India, a regular member of the Essex county squad, has been on a high-curve of improvement all season and she cemented that success by winning the Under-15 girls’ title in producing some impressive squash.
Amber Copley from Yorkshire and Essex’s Eleanor White both had a bye in the first round seeded 1 and 2 respectively. That left India v Libby Leivers (DER) and Piper Tatum (Essex) v Sophie Munro (LIN). Both Essex players won their games 3/0.
That meant three Essex girls in the semis. India v Amber Copley. India started well and took the first game but Amber came back and took the second. India ran for every ball and her speed frustrated the Yorkshire player and India was able to take the next two games to win 3/1.
Eleanor and Piper played with Eleanor coming out the winner 3/0 in a close fought game.
That set up an all Essex Final. Both girls played some brilliant squash. India started strongly and took the first game but Eleanor came back to take the second. The 3rd game was closely fought with India winning and giving her the confidence to step up and take the next game 11/4 and the match 3/1.
Final results
1st. India Webb
2nd Eleanor White
3rd. Amber Copley
4th. Piper Tatum
Plate winner: Libby Leivers
Runner up: Sophie Munro
Mikayla Mann carried Essex hopes in the girls’ under 13’s, a round robin format where she faced some tough matches against Lauren Hall, Amy Royle and Jodie Dowe.
All her opponents are higher ranked than Mikayla, but she was not put off and played for every point and took a game from Lauren Hall after being 2-0 down.
Mikayla played two of her matches on the rare rainbow courts, she felt it changed the game a little but it was a great experience.
As is often the case, the final scores do not always reflect how close the matches were. Mikayla lost 3-1, 3-0, 3-0 but a great debut in the under 13s.