Last year Laura Robson, Jessica Ren and Joanna Henderson steered GBR to the 14 & U finals for only the second time in the tournament's 28 year history. This year's team trying to reach the final 8 (in 2 weeks time) are:
Katy Dunne Beth Askew Pippa Horn
Their opening match on Friday is against Sweden
They are in Rakovnik (Czech Republic) whilst the 16 & U team in Zutphen (Netherlands) is
The U16s have been very lucky with the draw, with the two strongest teams on paper in Zutphen (Slovak Republic and Germany) both being in the opposite half of the draw.
The U16s were unable to capitalise on their fortunate draw. The ease with which Jessica has won the two top matches, suggests we would have qualified comfortably had Jennifer Ren not pulled out.
GBR 1 - Belgium 2
Manisha Foster lost to Steffi Distelmans 6-3 6-3 Jessica Ren def Laura Bernard 6-2 6-2 Foster/Ren lost to Bernard/Distelmans 1-6 6-4 [10-3]
We play the strong Slovak Republic for 3rd/4th
Tennis Europe has mangled the results of two groups in the U14s, so no news from there at present.
Jess did well this week winning all her singles matches. Overall our U16 team just wasn't strong enough.
Good to see our U14 team making the final rounds. Pippa winning all her singles matches is promising and Katy fought well, winning one of hers. Rohanova is a good player and has beaten Sachia Vickery, so for Katy to push her to a tiebreak is a good sign.
The same team is in Leeuwarden, Holland for the finals of the U14s starting on Friday, and the draw is as good as they could reasonably hope, with the two strongest nations on paper (Russia and the Czech Republic) drawn in the opposite half. Even so they will need 2 sterling performances to repeat last year's final
QF
(1) Czech Republic v Germany (3) Bulgaria v Russia Serbia v (4) Belarus Great Britain v (2) Belgium
There is live streaming from the court where GBR is playing Serbia, so if you want to see Katy (she is in white, currently 2-2 in the first set - don't know what happened in the first match) then go to