Recently, our star U15 tennis players, Sam (10S2) and David (10S1) won the Independent Schools Tennis Associations (ISTA) Championships!
There were 90 teams from all over the country converging on Eton College to compete in the 4-day annual event – the most prestigious national tournament in the school tennis calendar.
At the start of the weekend, the team topped their group with 5 wins in the preliminary rounds against strong tennis schools such as Eton College and Dulwich College. On Sunday, the knock-out draw for the remaining 32 teams was made and they won their first round convincingly against St George’s, before overcoming Abingdon School 7-6, 6-0 in the last 16 to progress to the quarter finals. This is the furthest Habs Boys had ever reached previously at the U15 level! The pair then continued to raise the bar to ease to a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Warwick School to reach the semi-finals.
The next morning, they lined up against the second Habs pairing of Kaaviyan (10J2) and Kian (10H1), who had performed at their very highest level to join Sam and David in a remarkable all Habs semi-final – an outstanding accomplishment itself. The 6-1, 6-4 outcome in favour of Sam and David took them into the final against St Columba’s College, who had battled past former champions New Hall in their semi-final.
The final against St Columba’s College was full of intensity and drama, and after going down a break early in the first set, they showed great composure to recover while playing under immense pressure. After continued strong play, Sam and David broke serve again at 5-5 and followed up to take the set 7-5, before sealing a 6-3 score line in the second set to win the ISTA Thomas Bowl trophy – a truly incredible achievement!
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