British Tour 2015

Shhh · Challenger level

British Tour 2015

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Great tournament, Beth.

Am predicting a very good year for Beth, top 700, no problem, (assuming she plays the tour).

Nice result from young Donia too (another of my faves), only very closely losing to Lisa. And also Serena Nash, a girl with not that much experience at higher levels but a lot of promise - a very respectable score against Beth.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Beth will play Eden in the final.

Beth came through having taken the scalp of Amy Bowtell

Eden beat Lisa Whybourn and Lucy Brown.

Manisha Foster retired injured earlier.

steven · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Beth will play Eden in the final.

Beth came through having taken the scalp of Amy Bowtell

Eden beat Lisa Whybourn and Lucy Brown.

Manisha Foster retired injured earlier.

It's easy to mis-read the drawsheet but it was Manisha's R2 opponent, Holly Horsfall, who retired - Manisha lost a very long QF to Lucy, who edged it 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(9)

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Well at least Lisa is playing and winning some matches. Guess she's aiming to play the british ITF events coming up

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Eden gets the title, beating Beth : 6-1 4-6 6-2

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Our youngsters have done very well, with Anna Loughlan beating the top seed, Natasha Hillyer to get to the semis and Ellie-Rose Griffiths making the semis too.

But Mollie Crouch and Aimee Gibson came through the semis and will contest the final.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

(2) Aimee Gibson best (3) Mollie Crouch 6-1 6-2

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Steven highlights the great success of Helen Parish in last week's Stirling British Tour event:

www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/sport/title_delight_for_upminster_s_parish_1_3945385

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

In Sutton this week, the final will be between Beth Askew and Mariam Bolkvadze (Beth beating Ceire Mullins in the semi, and Mariam beating Lisa W).

Just to say, very sad to see that Helen parish had to retire in her QF.

I made it down earlier in the week and Helen would get the prize for 'best bounciness' I've ever seen !!!! The energy that woman puts into her placement, and jumps before each ball, and positioning, is positively awe-inspiring - a real energizer bunny - made the others look positively sluggish and lazy (her overheads are stellar too). She also got the prize for about the only player to actually smile during a match - most looked as though they were having root canal surgery. Do hope her health is OK.

NB Beth was really disappointing when I saw her - very one dimensional play, although solid. However, she's made the final.

steven · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
In Sutton this week, the final will be between Beth Askew and Mariam Bolkvadze (Beth beating Ceire Mullins in the semi, and Mariam beating Lisa W).

Just to say, very sad to see that Helen parish had to retire in her QF.

I made it down earlier in the week and Helen would get the prize for 'best bounciness' I've ever seen !!!! The energy that woman puts into her placement, and jumps before each ball, and positioning, is positively awe-inspiring - a real energizer bunny - made the others look positively sluggish and lazy (her overheads are stellar too). She also got the prize for about the only player to actually smile during a match - most looked as though they were having root canal surgery. Do hope her health is OK.

NB Beth was really disappointing when I saw her - very one dimensional play, although solid. However, she's made the final.

Yes, very sad that Helen had to retire (she tweeted: "Used every ounce of energy I had to go 4-0 up today...then absolute wipeout :( Classic 3 morning starts in a row! #MEproblems #earlydays"), but I think she ought to be very pleased that she was destroying a teenager already ranked in the top 700 with that energy she used. Frustrating as it is for her, apparently the ME isn't hitting her as badly or as quickly as it did last year, so she's getting there even if it's a long process with plenty of setbacks.

As for 'best bounciness' smile , yes, her footwork has always looked amazing.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Seeding was respected:

Mariam def. Beth 6-2 6-2

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

More and more juniors playing the Tour event, it seems:

in the semis this week, Emily Arbuthnott plays Ema Lazic, and Mollie Crouch plays Emily Smith

paulisi · Tennis legend

That's the plan....
Get the juniors to start playing open age competition and get some money to start up their pro career.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
That's the plan....
Get the juniors to start playing open age competition and get some money to start up their pro career.

But I thought most of them weren't taking the money, because of US College rules and keeping the door open, and all that ?

In fact, if most are now youngsters and most don't take the money, that's a great deal for the LTA smile Cost-free tournaments !