By Jamie Morris
Henry Patten and Oliver Cull were rocking all over the world after landing the Rocks Lane crown last weekend on the Hop Tour.
Patten and Cull were on the top of their game as they dispatched sturdy competition in the way of Craig de Silva and Fredrik Warneryd after a dramatic final set, taking the title match 4/6, 6/4 and 10/7.
The eventual winners had a strong pedigree of tennis in their background which proved to be a deciding factor as they progressed through the rounds.
HOP Tournament director John Leach, who ran last Saturday’s event, waxed lyrical: “The guys that won were playing in their first event, they have got a strong background in tennis and Olly is a fine player who has just played Wimbledon.
“They played Freddy and Craig in the final who had won the previous event at Roehampton, the final was very tight and it went down to the final set tiebreak, it was very touch and go, it was an exciting match to watch.
“I think the dark horses were Olly and Henry because we weren’t aware of their padel background so I guess they were a surprise package.”
Cull and Patten’s run to the final saw them succeed in not dropping a set as they were too strong for their semi-final opponents Alexi and Oliver Watelet by winning both sets 6/1.
Meanwhile in the other semi-final, de Silva and Warneryd required a third set to book their place in the final as Cain Christoforou and Kertsen Eero proved to be worthwhile competition, the game finished 7/5 6/7 10/6 in the runners up favour.
There were several byes in the round of 32 before any waiting players then met their opponents in the next round.
The highest scoring win coming from the Watelet pairing who won both sets 6/0 against Nicolas Benitez and Giacomo Ricciarelli in a quarter-final tie.
Leach highlighted that it was useful to have a good variation of players entering the tournament: “It was a successful event, we had 21 teams, all over different accommodations, we had players that were local to the club and some had played in previous events and some were playing their first event.
“We are introducing players to the world of padel and we want to have fun with players, we want to create that environment where people are relaxed and they want to come and play, I think it was a good combination of players having that experience and having players that are relatively new.
“I think the thing people enjoy the most is just playing new people and these events give them a chance to test their skills against players they don’t know.
“We had a lot of players who were knocked out early but would stay and watch the rest of the tournament, we want to encourage a strong social vibe and it gets pretty serious when you see the latter stages of the event.”
