Calvert regains singles title with victory in Calderdale tennis open finals

In a high-class match that was closer than the score line suggests, Calvert’s ability to strike winners under pressure proved decisive. It was his third Calderdale title.

Another Todmorden club member, Suzanne Oulton, had twice been successful in the Ladies over 40s singles, but had tough battles to gain her first win in the Open. She beat Janet West 12-10 in the third set in a marathon match in the semis and had another three-set match in the final against Cragg Vale’s Becky Devereux before securing the title 6-1, 6-7, 6-2.

In the Men’s doubles, Todmorden’s Peter Metcalfe and Mark Cheetham gained revenge for last year’s defeat to Akroydon/Elland’s James Hodgson and Alasdair Whiteley, despite going 4-0 down in the first set. They then won six games in a row to take the first set and, despite dropping the second set 6-2, held on to secure the title 6-2 in the third.

Ann Rushworth had won nine of the last 11 Ladies’ Open doubles titles, five of them with Linda Kenworthy, but the pair had to settle for being runners-up this time as they were beaten 6-4, 7-6 by the Elland duo Sarah Whipp - winning her second Open title - and Abbie Young.

Whipp and Young then faced each other on opposite sides of the court when they contested the Mixed Doubles final. In an all-Elland affair, Young and James Hodgson teamed up to repeat their success in the same event last year as they beat Darryl Rathmell and Sarah Whipp 6-4, 6-4 to give Young her second title of the day.