Gosling Tennis Player, Ben Davis takes title at LTA Winter Grand Prix
Monday, 11 January 2010 13:33
Gosling Tennis Player, Ben Davis wins U18 boys singles at the LTA Winter Grand Prix, held at Gosling Sports Park.
Ben Davis who trains at Gosling International High Performance Centre in Welwyn Garden City has enjo
yed some singles success over the Christmas period by winning the U-18s boys’ singles at the Lawn Tennis Association winter Grand Prix held at Gosling Sports Park from the 28th-31st December.
Despite being seeded 5th Ben was without doubt the favourite for the title as the only player in the draw to have a men’s ATP Tour ranking (professional ranking) and Ben played well under the favourite tag in moving swiftly through to the quarter finals without dropping a set where he faced James Hignett of South Wales. Ben started brightly winning the first set 6-3 before Hignett hit back to take the second by the same margin but in the final set Davis came flying out of the blocks to build a comfortable 5-2 lead and despite Hignett playing some outstanding tennis while behind Davis closed out the match 6-3 3-6 6-4 to set up a semi final meeting with Toby Martin of Buckinghamshire.
In the semi finals Ben was not playing his best but found away past Martin in two tight sets 7-6 7-6 whilst saving set points in the second set to advance to the final against the surprise package of the tournament; big hitting Joe Mills of Sussex.
Both players started out well exchanging breaks of serve early in a set that eventually ended in a tiebreak but it was Davis who was into his routines early using all the mental skills he has been developing over the past year that managed to control himself in the tiebreak and easily took it with the loss of one point. Ben gained control of the second set early and closed out the match 7-6 6-3.
It was the first tournament for Davis since the British national championships in August after suffering with injury throughout 2009 as well his first tournament win of 2009 and in doing has now qualified for the British winter masters to be held at the national tennis centre in late January.
Gosling IHPC Coach John Morris had this to say “It was a great event for Ben considering he has not competed for so long and to come out and achieve what he has is a credit to his fighting abilities. Although 2009 has not been his best year due to injuries, winning this title is a great way to end the year and we will look forward to the masters with confidence”
