The 73rd Penzance Open 2023, a Grade 3 ranking tournament took place from 30/7 – 5/8. 24 couples from all over the country entered the over 60s mixed including Graham and Susie from Falmouth Sports Club.
Graham and Susie were seeded and had a bye in the first round but then had to play 4 tough matches over 4 days. They were close to going out in the first round against a County Veteran pair from Oxfordshire but managed to win the championship tie breaker 10-7.
The second round was against Penzance county veterans Paul and Lynn Heckford, Lynn is actually the captain of Susie’s county team so after securing the win 6-3 7-5 against them Susie may now be an ex county player!
Having progressed to the semi final against St Agnes pair Bernard Hoskins and Sally-Ann Homer they had another very tough match. At one set all Graham and Susie managed to win in another championship tiebreaker 10-7 to secure a place in the final.
Saturday’s final arrived and so did Storm Antoni! 26/27 mph winds and gusts of up to 50mph but matches still went ahead. The opposition was Dave Murthwaite and Bryn Heale from Penzance. Not only were they previous tournament winners, they had also knocked out the No1 seeds on route to the final. After battling the elements for nearly 2 hours Graham and Susie managed to secure the win 7-6, 6-4 and became the champions.
