Bertie stars to pick up another men's title

Nov 19 2008 by Mark Woodward, Birmingham Mail

STEVE Bertie added the Warwickshire Closed men’s singles title to his Birmingham crown at the St Nicholas Centre in Warwick.

The Hamstead star had a convincing final success over Muhammad Khalid (Colebridge) in an event dominated by Birmingham players.

Title holder Michael Browne (Smiths Wood) was swept aside by Khalid at the semi-final stage, while Bertie beat team-mate John Collymore in the last four.

Collymore was the surprise package of the tournament with crushing victories against highly-rated Colebridge duo Ian Ferguson and Edward Lynn.

Dawn Sagoo, who has returned to the sport after a 13-year break, beat Sam Meredith (Leamington) and Sarah Riach (Smiths Wood) to be a worthy winner of the ladies’ singles.

The Bertie/Browne combination beat Ferguson/Alan Hewitt in the men’s doubles final. Jack Williamson overcame clubmate Alan Caffery in a high-quality boys’ final.

Holly Thompson became the youngest ever winner of a senior event at the tournament, when partnered by Ferguson in the mixed doubles.

She was a late replacement for the injured Helen Turner (Smiths Wood) and the 12-year-old proved a perfect foil for the explosive skills of her partner as they swept to a popular victory.

Turner is also out of this weekend’s county weekend at Derby where the Warwickshire first team face a tough challenge against Division One opponents following their promotion in 2007/8.