Ilkley Tennis Week: Leeds player Jordan Reed-Thomas clinches title

Yorkshire have a new LTA British Tour champion.
Winner: Jordan Reed-Thomas.Winner: Jordan Reed-Thomas.
Winner: Jordan Reed-Thomas.

County player Jordan Reed-Thomas won his first title at this level by defeating Alexander Maggs 6-4, 6-4 in the Grade Two men’s singles final at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club.

The 26-year-old from Leeds who had helped the White Rose to promotion the week before in Men’s Group Two of County Week in Manchester, triumphed in 75 minutes as play was again restricted to Ilkley’s indoor courts.

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Maggs, 20, from Redditch in the Midlands, dropped his serve with a double fault in the third game, and Reed-Thomas served four aces in five points to hold serve for 4-2.

Fifth seed Reed-Thomas, a former Leeds Beckett University student who now trains with their squad, backed up that break by winning the first set in 34 minutes against his powerful, unseeded opponent.

Maggs, who attends the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, saved a break point in the fifth game of the second set, but there was no escape when an identical scenario faced him two games later.

Headingley-based Reed-Thomas held to love to go 5-3 ahead but then showed nerves for the first time in the match when serving for it, and had to save two break points in a long game before sealing the title.

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The victor said: “I played really well and served really well, so I was happy with that. Alexander played really well, was really aggressive and served huge and there was not much in it at the end.

“But I was definitely nervous in that last game as before I had been holding serve easily, but then I threw in those two double faults.

“Being a British Tour event at Ilkley definitely played a role in my nerves. It definitely means more to me to win one in your own county.”

Reed-Thomas, who pocketed £300, turns his attention to the National Doubles League finals in London, representing Roundhay Tennis Club, while he also has a British Tour event in Sutton to look forward to in mid-August.

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He said: “I want to play full-time, but need to pull a few strings together. At the moment I am just playing and coaching.”

There was also a first-time LTA British Tour winner of the women’s singles in unseeded 16-year-old left-hander Ruby Hart.

The six-footer from Hampstead Garden Suburb in London defeated fourth seed Kira Reuter 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), recovering from 5-1 down in the tie-break.

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