Under21s National Title

On Friday, the 28th of February Maria presented her mom with a fantastic present for her birthday by winning the Under21s national title. The day started with Maria in Group 4 as the fourth seed. She faced Tracy Jenkins first and quickly imposed herself with a 3-0 win (11-3 11-4 11-2). Next was Daniella Gray and despite an 11-0 win for the first set Daniela raised her game but Maria won both next sets 11-9. The last game was against her England cadet and junior team mate and friend Lois Peake. The concentration on Maria's game was again visible knowing that you cannot relax against Lois. She walked away with another 3-0 win (11-3, 11-8, 11-5).

ETTA CEO presenting the trophy

Being the fourth seed she was given a bye to the quarter finals where she faced Tressa Armitage who had disposed Evangeline Collier before. For the first set Maria was 10-5 up but Tressa's fighting spirit resulted soon to be 10-10. At the end after a series of opportunities for both players Tressa won it 17-19. Maria took control of the next set and perhaps learning from her mistakes she won it 11-6. Another tight set to follow with Maria winning 13-11 to take the lead 2-1 in sets. Same good performance from both players but Maria kept her coolness and concentration to reach the semi final with a 11-9 win. You can see the whole game at YouTube (it starts at 5:55:02).

For the semi final Maria now faced the third seed Yoland King who earlier had beaten Emma Torkington. As usual with Maria it was a wave of different emotions. Yoland took the first 9-11 but then Maria followed with two sets (11-6 and 11-9) only for Yolanda to make it 2-2 with an easy 3-11. The tide was Yolanda especially when she was 6-10 up - and then Maria's greatest strength came to surface. Never die, never give up attitude made Maria the winner of the fifth set by 16-14.

For the final the number one seed was waiting, Tin Tin Ho who earlier had a surprising easy win against Abbie Milwain with 3-0. Last time they had met at Junior Masters Tin Tin had won whereas the previous time at the Junior Nationals Maria did. So everything it was on the balance. This was proven as the girls took turns winning a set to reach the dreaded fifth set. The sequence was 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 9-11 with Maria's score first. On the fifth Maria took an early lead but as usual Tin Tin slowly came back. With score 10-8 in favour of Maria Tin Tin had the two serves coming. First serve and Maria misses the table - 10-9. Then unfortunately for Tin Tin her second serve hit the net but agonisingly missed the table. Maria took some seconds that seemed like years to realise that she was the new national champion!

The official ETTA report

Women’s Under-21s:
Maria Tsaptsinos continued her jinx over international team-mate Tin-Tin Ho by adding the National Women’s Under-21 title to her National Junior title that she picked up against the same opponent.

Typically for the Berkshire junior, her tournament was a battle against-the-odds but one that her determination and courage saw her through.

Her first task came against Hampshire girl Tressa Armitage who conceded a 10-5 lead in the opening game, only to fight back to win a nip-and-tuck opener 19-17. That should’ve been an open invitation for Armitage to force her way ahead but Tsaptsinos fought back in three battling ends (11-6, 13-11, 11-9) to secure a semi-final place.

There, she met Sussex girl Yolanda King who herself was hoping to exact revenge on Tin-Tin for defeat in the 2012/13 final. However, despite five pulsating ends of drama and nerves – in particular an extremely tense final game, Tsaptsinos once again came out on top as her never-say-die attitude helped her to a 3-2 (9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 3-11, 16-14) win.

This set up her final with English No. 1 Junior Tin-Tin, who had typically cruised to the final following a 3-1 win over Vicky Smith before an electric 3-0 victory over a shell-shocked Abbie Milwain in the semi-final.

Not for the first time therefore, Maria and Tin-Tin met in the final of a national championships.

While Maria’s appearance was her first at under-21 level, Tin-Tin had last year’s successful title challenge to build from as they clashed late on Friday night and typically it was full of characteristic rallies. Tin-Tin was at her best from the serve, quickly getting on top in points and using her speed to her advantage, however, Maria, well used to Tin-Tin’s technique, replied by looping top-spins from deep to make the Paddington youngster push away.

After two games secured apiece, the duo headed into a final end with everything to play for.

In a repeat of the National Junior title, it was the Berkshire girl who came out on top – securing the final end 11-9 with an unfortunate ending to the match as Tin-Tin faulted on serve to give her great rival her first Under-21s crown.