Kean sweeps board to claim men’s tennis title

A round robin section of the competition on Saturday saw players with the most wins progress to the knock-out stages the following day of a great weekend of tennis.

Kean was joined in the knock-out stages by Idle, Shahid Hanif, Richard Bentley and former professional boxer Zahid Kahut.

Kean stunned experienced men’s player Bentley with a quick fire semi-final win, having also beaten Kahut.

The youngster breezed to a first set win in the final but when the second set went to a tie break, Idle looked on course to level, taking a 7-3 lead.

Kean fought back and forced Idle into uncharacteristic unforced errors as he won the tie break 10-8 to take the title.

Idle teamed up with Gary Meynall for the doubles and they progressed to the final, where they met Hanif and Helmuut Maack, in a clash which produced several long rallies.

Idle and Meynall had too much power and the latter rose at the net to smash home the winning shot and secure the doubles title win.

Meynall joined Kath Westley to reach the mixed doubles final, where they met Kahut and Liz Bentley in an epic final.

Meynall and Westley won the first set before Kahut’s powerful serve looked to be taking control of the second.

Bentley was solid, both at the net and with ground strokes from the base line, as they forced the second set to a tie break.

It was nip and tuck until a shot struck the net cord and gave Meynall and Westley the chance they needed to close the game out and seal the mixed doubles title win.

Liversedge Tennis Club’s intermediate team completed an impressive season, which saw them finish runners-up in their league’s Division One.

The team, consisting of promising youngsters Matt Dennehy, Sam Northing, Glenn Aspindle, Edward Parkin, William Farrar and the club’s men’s singles winner Nathan Kean, had won back-to-back promotions from the third to the first division.

Despite being many people’s favourites to be relegated after such a rapid rise, the Liversedge youngsters produced some exceptional tennis throughout the summer to clinch the runners-up spot in the final league standings.