The Northumbria Senior County Closed 2022 took place at Tynemouth Squash Club from 27th to 30th January. All the action and results can be found here.

There were an impressive 64 entries for the Men's graded events (A to D) and 8 for the Women's event, and very good attendance throughout, particularly on Finals Night.

In the Men's A event, there was a changing of the guard with two first-time finalists and the youngest for many years, aged 22 and 23 respectively. It was the slightly younger man, 3rd seed Michael Mattimore of Northern, who claimed his first County title in impressive style with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-8) win over Jamie Todd of Tynemouth. Mattimore did not drop a game throughout his four matches in the tournament, which included the scalp of reigning champion and top seed Liam Gutcher (Newcastle University) in the semi-final. The withdrawal of 13-times winner Dave Barnett (Northumberland Club) pre-tournament due to Covid, and then 2nd seed Chris Wiggins (Newcastle University) through injury, had left the lower half of the draw wide open and Todd had taken full advantage by knocking out 4th seed Cai Younger (Northern) to reach his first County final. However he could not match the accuracy, touch and agility of Mattimore who controlled the match from start to finish.

Top seed Sam Ward had earlier secured the Women's Senior title for the 6th consecutive year and the 9th time overall, again without dropping a game throughout. Ward was never in trouble against 3rd seed and first-time finalist Rebecca Symmons, who had earlier received a bye in the semi-final after the withdrawal of 2nd seed Hannah Cliff through injury, Ward cruising to a 3-0 (11-4, 11-1, 11-3) victory.

In the Men's A Plate, Chris Garner (Northumberland Club) showed true grit in overcoming a 2-0 deficit to beat 5-set specialist Dan Ward (Northern) 3-2 and prevent a 'Ward double'! The Women's Plate was claimed by Annabelle Satow (Hexham) who surrendered a 2-0 lead to Mia Smith (Tynemouth) before capturing a very tight deciding game 11-9.

The Men's B event was dominated by Sam Sweeney (Westoe) who showed impressive movement and range of shots in winning all his matches 3-0 including against Simon Broach (Newbiggin) in the final. The B Plate went to Charlie Ponente (Benwell Hill) after a close 3-1 victory over Andrew Walsh (Tynemouth).

The Men's C event was an all-Benwell Hill (although not an all-Men) affair, as the wily Bob Aynsley overcame Karen Heron 3-0. So Bob managed to beat two women and two Pabarys over the four rounds! The C Plate was captured by Joe Elliott (Northern) with a 3-0 win over Andy King (Tynemouth).

In the Men's D event, Jack Shotton (Northumberland Club) beat Ricki Norton (Tynemouth) in a tight contest 3-1. Finally, in the D Plate, Nick Thornton (Tynemouth) just got the better of Stuart Mitchell (Northern) 3-2.

Thanks go to Steve Cubbins for organising the tournament, including the live streaming from court 5, the photography and keeping us all informed and entertained through the County Closed website and WhatsApp group, to Louise Robertson for supporting Steve on the tournament desk, collecting the entry fees and presenting the trophies, to Guy Eniona for procuring the trophies, and to Tynemouth for hosting.