Taylor made for glory in men’s final

May 2 2007 by Nick Moreton, Birkenhead News

IN THE semi-finals of the Wirral Closed Championships, Wirral Premier’s Jonathan Taylor – bidding for his first men's title – will play the experienced Roy Smith from Eswa.

Rob Wylie Snr (NFGR) will contest the other semi-final with Joey Doyle (phoenix).

Steve Nicholls (Spinners) was the only non-first division player to get through the groups, as he beat Andrew Moulton and only fell narrowly in the knockout stages to Ian Black (Eswa).

Meanwhile, Roy Smith came from a game down to beat Dave Harse.

The ladies event was played on a round robin basis and Gemma Lloyd (Wirral Premier) was victorious.

She won all four of her matches with only Maitreyi Shivkumar winning an end off her.

Ann Dakin was runner up on countback after beating Stephanie Howard but losing to Shivkumar.

Helen Holyoak gave a spirited performance but failed to win any.

The men's doubles will see Rob Wylie Snr (NFGR) and Jonathan Taylor (Wirral Premier) contest the final against Dave Harse (Nbcc) and Joey Doyle (Phoenix) .

Wylie overcame his son and Chris Weir in the semi-final while Harse and Doyle beat Mike Ashton and Bill Lowe.

In the ladies doubles, Gemma Lloyd (Wirral Prem ) and Maitreyi Shivkumar (Nfgr) won their round robin, overcoming Ann Dakin and Stephanie Howard.

They also beat Helen Holyoak and Sarah Gebbie.

The mixed doubles was played as a round robin between five different pairs and it all boiled down to the last match, where Gemma Lloyd and Jonathan Taylor beat Stephanie Howard and David Harse, 11-6 11-8 11-3.

Ann Dakin and Mike Ashton were third.

Rob Wylie Snr (Nfgr) will play Roy Smith (Eswa) in the veterans singles final after Wylie beat Dave Harse and Smith overcame Ian Black in the semi-finals.

The Junior Singles event was a combined boys and girls event this year and Maitreyi Shivkumar is through to her second consecutive final after beating John Simcox in her semi-final.

Steve Nicholls, meanwhile, knocked out Chris Weir, while Chris Hatton and Tom Hill were the beaten quarter-finalists.

In the cadet singles, Calday Grammar School pupils and Spinners team mates, Steve Nicholls and Chris Hatton, will contest the final after semi-final wins over George Gebbie and John Simcox respectively.

Chris Hatton won the under-13 singles for the first time thanks to a 11-9 11-8 11-6 win over George Gebbie.

Tom Hill and Xiao Collins were the beaten semi-finalists.

In the division two singles, Dave Morris (Spinners) beat Ann Dakin (Pinewood) 6-11 11-4 11-9 11-5, while in the division 3 singles, John Simcox (Spinners) beat Stan Wilkinson (Pinewood) 11-7 11-6 11-5.