by Ben Taylor-Matthews
Westwood hosted the 2025 edition of the Anne Boleyn Ladies Handicap Singles, with 9 participants. With seven names in the draw, the odds were in favor of a Westwood winner.
Players were split into two groups and played in a round-robin format, with group winners and runners-up progressing to the semifinals.
The Tower Group consisted of four players, playing six game sets. Aidana Saudabayeva (Boston) and Ashley Fitz-Patrick (Westwood) both won their first two matches on Saturday, guaranteeing them a place in the finals. They faced off on Sunday morning in their final group match, which went to the wire, Aidana pinching the last game to win 6-5 and top the group, with Ashley going through as runner-up.
The London Group was a group of five players who played five-game sets. It followed the same pattern as the Tower Group, with two players winning their first three matches, leaving their final match as the decider for the group winner and runner-up. Winter Evans-Jones (Westwood) took advantage of some very favorable handicaps to top the group, winning all four of her matches. Michele Velchik (Westwood) had the median handicap within the group, being on both the receiving and giving end and finished runner-up.
The first semifinal had Aidana up against Michele with a handicap of receive 15, owe 15 in Michel’s favor. The two of them went game for game throughout the set, neither player ever able to get two games ahead. We reached the inevitable 5-5 scenario, which came down to the wire as we got locked at 40-all, with match points for both players. Michele hit a great return of serve to Aidana’s backhand that didn’t come as far off the backwall as she was expecting, drawing an error and a place in the final for Michele.
Ashley and Winter then played out a huge handicap difference of 47 in the second semifinal. It was a battle of whether Ashley could be solid and error-free enough versus whether Winter could get enough cheap points to progress. Ashley found the tambour a couple of times early on, which seemed to bring her to life. She then chased everything down, worked the forehand corner and kept hold of the service end for virtually the whole match. She played error-free from 4-4 to win 6-4 and advance to the final to play Michele.
Fresh from having to play very reliably and almost defensively, Ashley was already in ‘handicap mode’. She was giving away ‘receive 30, owe ½ 30, 1 serve and banned tambour’ in the final but started superbly, serving a near-perfect bobble that Michele struggled to get back with any venom. The points turned into games as Ashley made her way through the set with virtually no errors, perhaps playing with a bit more freedom without the banned chase aspect to deal with. She raced into a 5-0 lead before Michele got on the board with a grille! Unfortunately, it only delayed the ending as Ashley picked up the next game with a trademark unreturnable serve to win the 2025 Anne Boleyn, 6-1 in the final.
