A LIVELY crowd gathered at the Caesarean Lawn Tennis Club on Sunday as Jersey hosted Bailiwick-rivals Guernsey in the 2024 edition of the annual inter-insular clash.
The Channel Islands’ top tennis talents brought both new and familiar faces to Grands Vaux, lighting up an incandescent atmosphere around the courts that kept players energised throughout a thrilling day of competition.
By the close of play, Jersey secured victory with a 7-5 overall score, once again defending their title in the long-standing sporting rivalry.
“It was really nice that it was a hard-fought and tight inter-insular,” said JTA chair and Jersey women’s player Sonia Smith.
“The veterans’ inter-insular was a bit of a whitewash, so it was refreshing to see such a tight scoreline and tight matches that could have gone either way.
“Our juniors acquitted themselves so well. Johnnie [Le Feuvre] is still only 16 and did incredibly well to win his singles, while Isabella Aldridge and Triona O’Callaghan also played some great tennis.
“It was so good to see fresh blood come into the adults and acquit themselves so well.
“But, most importantly, the whole match was played in great spirits.
“Both teams want to win, but we are great friends off the court and spend a lot of time together when playing at the County Cup.
The day’s tennis began with the Ladies’ Doubles and Men’s Singles, seeing Jersey off to a commanding early lead as they dropped only one point in the opening round of matches.
James Faudemer drew first blood with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 6-1 6-2 win over Guernsey’s Pete Robinson, sprinting to victory with a performance that left onlookers dumbfounded.
However, Guernsey struck back immediately with their own display of doubles expertise.
The long-standing duo of Lauren Watson-Steele and Lauren Barker, well known for their stellar teamwork, took control from the start and posted a commanding 6-3 6-1 win over Jersey’s Natasha Forrest and Sarah Jones to level the score.
As the Watson-Steele/Barker match concluded, attention turned to the other Ladies’ Doubles fixture, where Jersey’s Sonia Smith and Clare Clarke found themselves down 0-6, 1-4 against Jo Dyer and Lauren Coutanche.
With Guernsey’s second pairing looking poised to seal another point, Smith and Clarke staged an incredible comeback, rallying hard to take the next five games and the second set 6-4.
In a fittingly nail-biting conclusion, the local pair edged out the Sarnian pairing 10-8, much to the appreciation of the home crowd.
“It was such an unusual match,” said Smith.
“Lauren and Jo were fantastic in the first set and, at 0-3 down in the second, we were a little worried it would be a very heavy defeat.
“But me and Clare have played a lot of tennis together and know our games well.
“You never know what can happen in this game, and it goes to show you should never give up.
“Looking at the final score, it proved a really important point and it felt like the comeback of the century for us.”
Following in Faudemer’s footsteps, the men didn’t put a foot wrong in their remaining singles clashes.
The young Johnnie Le Feuvre (16) impressed in his inter-insular debut, keeping up his stellar summer form to outclass Guernsey veteran Chris Ash 6-2 6-1, meanwhile Scott Weaver showed little sign of rust as he dusted off his racket, oozing timeless class in his 6-1 6-3 triumph over Ben Ferbrache.
However, all eyes were on Jersey’s top seed and inter-insular newcomer, Luca Paciello, as he faced off against the Guernsey tennis stalwart, and fellow top seed Rob West.
The Guernseyman seized an early lead as Paciello settled into the match, but, as the set progressed, both men matched each other stroke for stroke in a tactical duel, each player striving to disrupt the other’s timing with clever changes of pace and shot selection.
In a tense battle that kept the crowd enthralled, it was Paciello who broke through to clinch the first set and subsequently the match.
Despite earning themselves a commanding lead heading into the afternoon, it was not yet over for the Caesareans as they still needed one win to reclaim the silverware, and two to outright win 2024’s iteration of the event.
It was the ladies’ turn to grace the singles courts, and the men’s to take to the doubles.
The ladies’ matches brought stories aplenty as a formidable home side took on perhaps Guernsey’s strongest ever female inter-insular squad.
For the first time in 12 years, Guernsey’s Dyer was knocked off her long-standing Island champion perch, and entered the team as the second-seeded player, with the person to oust her, Barker, playing at three.
Add in the back up of Coutanche at four, and Watson-Steele at the summit of the Sarnian squad, they were more than prepared to ask questions of Jersey’s line-up.
Guernsey’s reigning island champion was the first to walk off court victorious in the afternoon session at Triona O’Callaghan’s expense.
It was a truly competitive affair. However, Barker’s wealth of experience proved the difference as Jersey’s young gun struggled to maintain her composure on the big points.
Simultaneously, Sarah Jones and Isabella Aldridge were fighting in deadlocked first sets against Dyer and Coutanche.
Both Sarnians claimed the first set in their encounters, with only one break of serve separating Dyer and Jones, and Coutanche outlasting Aldridge in a tiebreak.
As is often the way after emerging on the wrong side of a hard-fought set, the subsequent momentum was firmly in Guernsey’s favour for the remainder of the game with both Jones and Aldridge struggling to regain their footing.
While the morning session had been dominated by Jersey’s red-clad players, the afternoon took a distinctly green turn as Guernsey clawed back lost ground.
Fortunately for the hosts, Paciello and Faudemer made quick work of their doubles encounter, bettering the Guernsey top seeds with a ‘breadstick and a bagel’ [6-1, 6-0], to ensure the trophy would remain on Caesarean soil for another year.
The glory of the outright win was still to play for however.
Competing alongside Paciello and Faudemer, Adam Bayley and Rob Hannah battled Robinson and Ferbrache all while Forrest and Watson-Steele fought on Court 1.
Having lost the first set, and exhibiting great presence of mind to take the second, the Bayley-Hannah combination found themselves 9-4 up in the third set match tiebreak.
The crowd had all but packed up their bags in expectation the pair would seal the all-important seventh point that would give Jersey the outright honours.
However, Guernsey’s never-say-die attitude saw Robinson and Ferbrache battle back from the five-point deficit with a vengeance as they claimed the match, against all odds.
With the overall tally at 6-5, the visitors were within arm’s reach of the hosts.
Hopes rested on the shoulders of their top woman.
Taking centre stage, Forrest and Watson-Steele put on a phenomenal display of ball striking, with both looking to overpower their counterpart.
As the match unfolded, neither relented and the even nature of the duel was underpinned by breathtaking exchanges, with only one break separating them in each set, as Forrest ultimately emerged victorious in each set.
Her 6-4 6-4 triumph sealed Jersey’s victory, sending the home support into thunderous applause as the team celebrated an impressive 7-5 win.
Jersey 7-5 Guernsey
Match results
Singles:
Luca Paciello (Jersey) defeated Rob West (Guernsey) 7-5, 6-0
James Faudemer (Jersey) df Pete Robinson (Guernsey) 6-1, 6-2
Scott Weaver (Jersey) df Ben Ferbrache (Guernsey) 6-1, 6-3
Johnnie Le Feuvre (Jersey) df Chris Ash (Guernsey) 6-2, 6-1
Natasha Forrest (Jersey) df Lauren Watson-Steele (Guernsey) 6-4, 6-4
Jo Dyer (Guernsey) df Sarah Jones (Jersey) 6-4, 6-1
Lauren Barker (Guernsey) df Triona O’Callaghan (Jersey) 6-2, 6-1
Lauren Coutanche (Guernsey) df Isabella Aldridge (Jersey) 7-6, 6-1
Doubles:
Luca Paciello/James Faudemer (Jersey) df Rob West/Chris Ash (Guernsey) 6-1, 6-0
Rob Hannah/Adam Bayley (Jersey) lost to Pete Robinson/Ben Ferbrache (Guernsey) 3-6, 6-4, 10-12
Natasha Forrest/Sarah Jones (Jersey) lost to Lauren Watson-Steele/Lauren Barker (Guernsey) 3-6, 1-6
Sonia Smith/Clare Clarke (Jersey) df Jo Dyer/Lauren Coutanche (Guernsey) 0-6, 6-4, 10-8
