Peterborough pair Mercedes Baxter Chinery and Seth Briggs-Williams struck gold at the Skechers Pickleball English Open in what was their first tournament as a duo.
Baxter Chinery, 27, and Briggs-Williams, 19, took the 4.5 18+ mixed doubles title at the Telford International Centre after defeating Lucy Elliott and Matt Leeke 11-7 11-6 in the final to cap off a busy week.
That was relatively straightforward compared to their semi-final earlier in the day when they had to hold their nerve in coming back from 11-2 down to win 15-13 against Molly Odonoghue and Tim Conner.
It also gave Briggs-Williams success in different kind of racket sport as his primary game is tennis, with the Wisbech Tennis Club product regularly competing in – and winning – tournaments.
Briggs-Williams said: “We were trying to have fun, basically. We said this was going to be a fun day and we just got ourselves over the line because in our semi-final we were down and out and I was just trying to remember why we were playing.
“I couldn’t believe how many people were here. I play in tennis tournaments all the time and there’s like a maximum of 60 people and then you get 2,000 people in an arena like this, there was an unbelievable atmosphere.”
Unlike her doubles partner, Baxter Chinery solely plays pickleball while working as a nuclear decommissioning consultant.
She added: “I’ve really enjoyed the event, I had great fun in both days I played as it’s a great event to come to, with lots of people and it has a great community feel to it.”
Baxter Chinery also competed in the women’s 4.5 18+ women’s doubles, while Briggs-Williams participated in all three of the tournaments he qualified for, which included reaching the last 32 of the men’s Open singles where he was defeated by Louis Laville.
The 2024 English Open was the largest pickleball event to take place outside of North America, with a record number of almost 2,000 players from 42 countries participating.
When asked how he took on a second sport, Briggs-Williams said: “I first started playing in January when I was on a break from tennis. I found it so easy to play and had fun playing with friends like Mercedes.
“It’s a lot more relaxed – unless you get to a final, or something – but it’s a great atmosphere all around.”
Baxter Chinery said: “My mum got into pickleball slightly after Covid and she was saying ‘you’ve got to try this, it’s so much fun.’ So, I came down and I don’t play tennis now, I just play pickleball.”
Pickleball England had a record number of players competing at this year’s English OPEN at the Telford International Centre in the largest pickleball event ever to take place outside of the USA. Visit pickleballengland.org
