NI Padel's first ever tournament took place at Padel54 on Saturday 17 October. A Grade 4 event for intermediate players, a full draw of 24 pairs, and finals played under the lights late into the evening.
The Club Series is built for intermediate players, so both players in every pair had to be rated Playtomic 4.0 or below. Entries filled up before the closing date, with a waiting list for places.
The format kept everyone busy. Eight groups of three played Fast4 from 4pm. The top two in each group went into the Cup and the rest went into the Bowl, so every pair played at least three matches.
Harty and Cowan take the Cup
Tom Harty and James Cowan were the pair of the night. They won every match in straight sets on the way to the final, including a 4-0 4-0 win over John Piekaar and Przemyslaw Czubaczynski in the round of 16.
There they met Jordan Murray-Barlow and Scott Ullmann, who had come through three straight set wins in the knockouts over Colm Tracey and David Warnock, Aled George and Jonny McCullough, and Jack McCaughey and Aaron Lawless. The final was played over full sets, and Harty and Cowan won it 6-1 7-5.
A tie-break to settle the Bowl
The Bowl final went the distance. Michael Kearney and Peter Carson took the first set 4-2, Rivaldo Teggart and David Alvarado hit back to win the second 4-3, and Kearney and Carson edged the match tie-break 10-7.
Thank you
The Cup winners took home £150 each and the runners-up £75 each, with £50 NinePadel vouchers for the semi-finalists. Thank you to NI Padel for choosing Padel54 for their first event, to AC Human, NinePadel, Babolat, Tretorn, BIA and Vanta Padel for backing it, and to every player who came along. Estrella was on tap once the last match was done.
What's next
The Club Series moves on to Let's Go Padel in East Belfast on 7 November. Then NI Padel are back at Padel54 for the Challenger Series, a Grade 3 weekend with the men's event on Saturday 14 November and the first women's event on Sunday 15 November. Jordan Murray-Barlow and Scott Ullmann have already entered for the step up. See the details.
