Haileybury pupil Corrie wins 16&U tennis Masters

Haileybury’s Ed Corrie took the boys’ 16&U title in the third of the four season-ending Ariel Masters Winter National Grand Prix tennis tournament at the Redbridge Sports Centre in Barkingside last week.

He held off a challenge by Middlesex’s Harry Skinner, the table points leader coming into the final play-offs.

Ed’s 7-6(2), 6-2 victory was sweet revenge for his loss to Skinner in last year’s 15&U Nationals, but his 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 semi-final win over Scott Dickson, he acknowledged was even sweeter.

"When I won the semi I was very happy as I had twice lost to Scott in my last two meetings with him. I was really pleased with that," says Ed.

His overall win was even more impressive considering he required one hour, 48 minutes to get past Dickson in the morning’s semi. In that encounter he looked to be losing his grip when Dickson stormed back to level the match with a run of five games, but he turned the tables on his Cheshire rival in the decider from 3-all to claim his place in the final.

It was Ed’s first real test of the week and a great warm-up for the afternoon’s final which started off as a test of strength with both players trying to out-hit the other from the base-line.

"I tried to play my own game but the final was more of a mental battle," Ed says. "I had been playing well in the early part of the competition and I am very pleased to have won," he adds.