Ryan Jenkins wins the Hereford GP
The final day at the Tees Sport sponsored Hereford Open Butterfly Grand Prix and the last in the current playing season saw Ryan Jenkins cruise through to the title dropping just two sets en route to another pay day, one to Julien Gittens in the group stage and the other to his final opponent Jiang Zhi Tao.
In the lower half of the draw Damien Nicholls was on a mission as he was lying in overall third position in the race for the runners-up prize of £850 in the Grand Prix points table for the season and seemed unstoppable in his route to the semi-final. He got the better of Matt Ware (lying in second spot for the title) in a three close sets quarter-final, which gave him a realistic chance to finish ahead of Ware if he could beat the Asian Zhi Tao in the semi-final. He started off brilliantly taking the first two sets against the second seed and it looked on the cards that he would get to the final with Jenkins (then enjoying an extra £450 for winning this match). However the last four contests turned upside down when Zhi Tao changed tactics and came out with all guns blazing to thwart Nicholls' great run winning the last three sets, to set up his final with the Welshman.
Top seed Jenkins mastered all the opposition put to him in the top half of the draw k/o rounds that included Shaun Marples, Garth Kinlocke and last four contender Chris Doran, who took him to deuce in two of the three sets played. His last adversary and second seed Jiang Zhi Tao did muster some kind of challenge taking the second set in the final to level, however the Welsh Wizard was just too clever against the Asian left hander taking the next two sets to maintain his unbeaten run in his third Grand Prix of the season and collect the winner’s cheque for £300.