England’s National Championships
Liam PITCHFORD won his sixth Men’s Singles title and HO Tin-Tin her fourth Women’s Singles on Finals Day of the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships.
PITCHFORD recovered a 2-0 deficit to overcome Paul DRINKHALL in six while HO was ruthless in ending the fairytale run of 15-year-old Mari Baldwin 4-0.
The sixth set was a masterclass from PITCHFORD showing the home crowd why he has been ranked in the world’s top 20. He won it 11-5 in emphatic fashion and moves level with DRINKHALL Alan COOKE and Denis NEALE on six Men’s Singles titles.
After the match PITCHFORD said: “It feels amazing. I’m on the same amount as plenty of good players so the next step is to keep winning. At the start I don’t think I played that bad. He was playing really well. Even throughout the whole match I think we both kept a good level. I had a bit of luck at the end of the fifth set and it can change matches. It was a few points here or there today and it went my way.”
Ross WILSON won a pulsating encounter with Kim DAYBELL 3-2 to take the para class 7-10 title and Jack HUNTER-SPIVEY also needed a decider to see off Dan BULLEN in the para class 3-5 event.
PITCHFORD & DRINKHALL won the Men’s Doubles for the seventh time withstanding a comeback from Sam WALKER & Tom JARVIS to win a decider while the Women’s Doubles saw success for Denise PAYET & Emily BOLTON who beat HO & Evie COLLIER in four.
