Almost but not quite for Warrington three
Posted by on 11 July 2011
Danni Eden, David Eden and Daniel Clarke: three juniors from Warrington TTC competed in the Junior Open on 10 July - the boys both making it through to the semi final stages and Danni all the way to the final.
And with three Warrington juniors reaching semi finals and a final it seemed certain that the Warrington club would again be bringing the trophies home. Surely?
After a tough qualifying group 15 year-old Danni Eden (seeded 4th), having defeated Beth Roberts in her semi, found herself in the tournament final against the number one seed Lucy Zhu in the girls under 18s and, having taken it to five games earlier in the day against the same opponent, Danni was trying to go one better in the final.
Meanwhile in the boys, Warrington teammates David Eden (5th seed) and Daniel Clarke (2nd seed), thankfully finding themselves in opposite halves of the draw, had both battled their way through qualification and the earlier knockout rounds to reach the semis. David was up against number one seed Alex Ramsden and Daniel against number three seed Johnny Higgins.
Despite brave performances all three Warrington players would find themselves dumped out of the tournament in quick succession. First to fall was Daniel, going out in a thrilling five-game match. After winning the first two games, Daniel should have come through on top but for a quite superb and determined come-back by Higgins who levelled and, with momentum on his side, took the match 3-2.
Daniel Clarke, after going ahead two games faces match point down against Higgins
On the next court, David Eden was also in a tremendously close five-game match. Alex Ramsden twice took the lead and David twice came back into contention, before loosing in a hotly-contended fifth game.
David Eden prepares for a fifth and final game in his semi final match against Ramsden
And, on the next court in the junior girls final Danni Eden couldn't quite defeat the pre-tournament favourite - who had put in an outstanding performance in order to stop Danni who had played particularly well all day.
Danni Eden putting in a great performance in her qualification group against the girls' number one seed Lucy Zhu: taking the match to fifth game.
Despite loosing in two semi-finals and a final, each of the Warrington juniors did well to get as far as they did in the tournament. The standard of competition was very high, across all age bands, with several of the country's top junior players taking part.
