England won both U13 and U15 titles for the seventh consecutive edition of the Five Nations with dominant displays across all three days in Dublin.
The annual tournament pits England against the best juniors from France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Played with teams of six (three boys, three girls), both age categories are organised in a round-robin format.
Repeating their feat from last year in Nantes, England won all four matches in both age groups to record emphatic victories at the Sutton Lawn Tennis Club in the Irish capital.
England’s U15s exerted almost total control, winning 23 out of 24 matches — with 21 of those victories completed in straight games.
Alex Koa-Wing, Kylen Calder, Esther Chak, Sienna Hampshaw and Nadiya Ismail won 3/0 in Friday’s 6-0 opening win over Wales. Only Tristan Sutton dropped a game in beating Jacob Green.
Thereafter, Friday afternoon’s 6-0 victory over Scotland and Saturday morning’s 6-0 triumph against Ireland were both completed without a single game conceded.
In Sunday morning’s concluding clash with France, Calder, Ismail, Hampshaw and Sutton all won 3/0, British junior U15 champion Chak won in four, but Koa-Wing — suffering with a stomach bug — sustained England U15s’ only loss of the whole weekend, going down in four games. France finished second, with Wales earning bronze.
In the U13s, England opened their campaign on Friday by whitewashing Wales 6-0, with all six players — British U13 champion Logan Willstrop, Daniel Stevenson, Jacob Askey, Siona Mishra, Sara Ibrahim and Ada Brown — victorious in straight games.
The afternoon 6-0 win over Scotland was almost as emphatic with five of the six matches completed in straight games. Only Ibrahim was stretched to four by Taline Bedair.
Saturday morning’s 5-1 win over hosts Ireland was a little more closely contested. England’s no.1 boy Willstrop had to dig deep to defeat Harry Knox 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, but Stevenson and Askey won more briskly.
Although Mishra and Brown also won in three, Ibrahim dropped the only rubber of the event for the U13s by going down 11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 8-11, 11-4 to Daisy Morrisey.
Ibrahim made amends superbly by defeating Fanny Simon of France in four in Sunday morning’s final match, while Willstrop, Stevenson, Askey, Mishra and Brown all cruised to straight-games victories to complete the 6-0 win. Ireland won silver medals, with France finishing third.
England’s Lead Coach, Adam Fuller, reflected: “Our players had a lot of valuable experiences this weekend which will prepare them really well for future international competitions.
“The French are always right up for it and are quite loud, so gaining playing experience in an uncomfortable environment like this was great for our players’ development.”
The England U15 team’s next assignment is at the ESF European Mixed Team U15 & U17 Championships in Prague on 7-10 May.