The national ranking tournament (NRT) of tennis club Cream Crackers in Groningen fell prey to Sam Bakker from Utrecht for the men and Fleur Sprengers from Geldrop for the women. Northerners did triumph in the doubles tournaments.
Favorite Boas Deden from Oudehaske did reach the final of the Stad-Groninger tournament, but had to give up. In his semi-final against Stefan Mos, the young Frisian had to go deep unexpectedly on Saturday. After he seemed to be on his way to the final battle with 6-0 and 4-0, Mos came back very strong and Deden had to go all out: 6-0, 6-7, 7-5.
Young Sverre Bakker reaches the semi-finals
The cramp that gave him that tough match broke Deden up against Sam Bakker in the final. At 6-0 and 3-2 in favor of Bakker, Deden gave up. The 23-year-old Bakker from Utrecht, who is also active in the international professional circuit, defeated his namesake Sverre Bakker from Haren in the semi-finals. Die Bakker, brother of talented Annelin, lost 6-2 and 6-1, but nevertheless played a good tournament.
In the doubles, Deden did take the tournament victory against the one-star NRT. He did this together with Meppeler Robin Grit, who has been on a good track lately. Deden and Grit won 6-3 and 7-5 against Thomas Schouten and Daan Romp.
Teenagers in the final
The women’s tournament win was for 17-year-old talent Fleur Sprengers from Geldrop. She defeated Megan Lynn Caffin (16) from Alphen aan den Rijn, who was placed first in the final, who is also considered one of the greatest talents in Dutch women’s tennis. Sprengers won 7-5 and 6-4.
The women’s doubles was dominated by Groningen women: Good Old Danielle Koetje won the tournament together with TAM player Amber Maalderink by rejecting Caffin and Jolien Geels in the final: 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.