Table tennis: Stacey completes domestic singles set

Joshua Stacey completed the set of Open domestic tournament wins at the GTTA Centre on Monday evening, triumphing in the Whistlers Open Singles.

The longstanding Whistlers member had previously won all the other ‘Open’ singles tournaments, including the Senior Group, Capelles Open Singles and Lions Spot for Sport, as well as the season-ending Division 1 Championships.

A beaten finalist in the curtain-raising Senior Group tournament a few weeks earlier, Stacey continued his strong form this season, finishing in style with a straight-sets victory over second seed Alex Robinson.

Record entries include 13 juniors

Entries continue to go from strength to strength, with 48 players taking part, five more than at the Senior Group tournament.

The field was divided into 16 groups of three, with the top two progressing to a last-32 knockout draw. The 13 junior entrants were another encouraging sign for the Association.

The group stages produced few surprises, with all 16 seeded Division 1 players topping their groups.

However, Division 2 player Craig Dunning upset Division 1’s Connor Powell in a close four-set match, while Division 3’s Dale Webb beat Maija Hansen after recovering from losing the third and fourth sets to dominate the decider 11-3.

Stacey brothers serve up semi-final thriller

There were several close contests in the knockout rounds, including Cameron Powell’s 11-9 deciding-set win over Mark Fenwick and Kenedy Chepkor’s comeback victory against Andy Gill.

The last 16 also saw Jez Powell produce one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, beating sixth seed and Lions C team-mate Ryan Bichard in four sets.

Top seed Lawrence Stacey was pushed hard by Jamie Ferbrache, who took the opening two sets before Stacey fought back to win.

The quarter-finals saw Josh and Lawrence Stacey both progress in straight sets, while Robinson beat youngster Luke Evans in four and Paul Hainsworth edged Cameron Powell 11-9 in a deciding fifth set.

Robinson then ended Hainsworth’s run in the semi-finals, winning in four sets to reach his first final of the season.

The other semi-final, between twin brothers Josh and Lawrence, proved a much closer affair.

Josh raced into a two-set lead and looked certain to progress when he held five match points at 10-5 in the fourth. Lawrence somehow saved them and took the set 14-12 to force a decider.

Josh then held three more match points at 10-7, only for Lawrence to fight back again and level at 10-10. This time, however, Josh held his nerve to take the deciding set 13-11.

Stacey finally gets his hands on the trophy

By the final, Stacey had built his form nicely and had too much firepower for Robinson.

After winning the opening set 11-7, he edged the second 12-10 before comfortably closing out the match 11-6 to claim the title for the first time.