Sally Hughes and Ivy Chan met in two finals as the third annual Cippenham Women and Girls 1-Star Open played out on Saturday.

However, neither Sally (above left) nor Ivy (above right) gained the upper hand over the other as they each won one of the two finals they contested.

It was fitting that Sally Hughes, the national standard-bearer for increasing female participation in table tennis, should secure the blue riband event, the Open Singles, while Chan had to be satisfied with her earlier Over-21 Singles title.

The top three seeds all won their preliminary round groups in the Open Singles. These were Hughes, Luna Archard and Jonabel Taguibao but fourth seed Holly Holder unfortunately withdrew with an injury half-way through the group matches and that allowed Cippenham’s Mary Heffernan to progress in her place.

Another Cippenham player, Anna Piercey, also progressed as winner of her group as did Chan and Lily Walters. The second-placed players who also made it through to the competition proper were Alesha Ellis-Austin, Chloe Ireland, Eleanor Turner-Samuels, Thu Huynh, Susanna Swan, Donna Hammond and Donna Prosser.

After defeating Huynth in the first knock-out round, Taguibao also withdrew and that provided Anna Piercey with a route through to the semi-final where she was defeated by the eventual runner-up, Chan. Chloe Ireland beat Mary Heffernan in a match between two Cippenham team-mates from the Maidenhead League but Ireland then lost to Wales’ Lily Walters in the quarter-finals.

The semi-finals paired Hughes against Walters and Chan against Piercey with Hughes and Chan both winning their matches three-straight to set up their second meeting of the day, this time with Sally Hughes avenging her earlier defeat.

The age group events were played throughout the morning, one for the over-21s and the other for under-21s.

Top-ranked Sally Hughes, Holly Holder and Ivy Chan duly won their preliminary round groups while Mary Heffernan, Donna Hammond and Chloe Ireland also progressed in the older age group category. The semi-finals pitched Hughes against Ireland and Chan against Holder with Chan eventually defeating Hughes 11-9 in the fifth game of an exciting final.

In the Under-21 Singles the group winners were Luna Archard, Jonabel Taguibao, Anna Piercey, Lily Walters and Alesha Ellis-Austin while the second-placed players who also made it through to the competition proper were Susanna Swan, Sophie Lee, Emily Ngo, Grace Liu and Eleanor Turner-Samuels.

The semi-finals saw Archard defeat Walters and Taguibao eliminate Piercey with the final providing Archard with her title after winning 3-0.

The tournament was organised and refereed by Sue Hayes with assistance from Elena Tant.

Results

To view photos from the event, please click here.