Tennis Europe U16 Tour: Umeå International Junior Indoor Open, Umea, Sweden.

An early start and another hour in a plane north of Stockholm (after almost missing our connection) we arrived on the Arctic circle at Umea in good spirits. To the hotel which had live Sport benefits and an easy walk to the Tennis Club. Result.

In the end the qualifying draw did not happen so Freddie went into Main Draw alongside Dan (seeded #1) and Will (#5). This gave the boys 2 days to adjust and prepare. Practise Saturday and Sunday.

Round 1 saw Dan and Will get byes as seeded players. Freddie went down 64 61 to Noren (Swe) and into the consolation draw, which he went on to win by beating Tsirkun (Est) 62 64; Gulsturf (Den) 61 62 and Lusta (Est) 61 61. So great experience for him of seeing the level and playing some very good tennis along the way.

Round 2 in the Main Draw and William comfortably disposed of Larsen (Den) 60 62 with Dan taking a little more time to come through 63 36 64 against Largo from Spain.

Will’s next match was against local wild card Rasmussen. Rasmussen was decent and proved too strong for Will this time winning 60 63. Dan won another 3 setter, this time without playing his best, against Kauppila from Finland 64 36 61, to put him in the Semi.

Dan had to face Rasmussen who had beaten Will.  After getting to set point more than once Dan lost the breaker 8-6 in the 1st, he then recovered to win the 2nd 75. He came back from 52 down to eventually lose out 64 in the deciding set.

In the Doubles Will and Freddie teamed up and easily put away Largo (Esp) and Chris Reynolds (GB) 61 60; then Rudenco (Mol) and Van Riesen (Ger) 61 64.

Dan joined up with eventual singles winner Durasovic from Norway. After a 1st round bye they beat Larsen & Larsen 64 62 and then after walkover in the Semi also found themselves in the final.

So all three boys made a final on their 1st u16 Euro tour event. A good return.

A really close final saw Dan and Viktor take the 1st 6-4. Will and Freddie took the next 6-3 and went on to take the champions tie break 10-3 to claim the win.

Craig

Tucked away in the leafy suburbs of Roehampton, the National Tennis Centre was the venue for a very eventful and successful Junior Nationals.
In all 10 TEAMBATH-MCTA players were accepted into the qualifying or main draws. On the girls side, Brigit Folland, Beth Askew and access player Alicia Barnett got in. For the Boys, Sid Hazarika, Toby Mitchell, Scott Clayton, Max England and David Fox started in qualifying, with Toby Martin and access player Luke Johnson joining them in the main draw.

So on 6th August the qualifying event started with some very strange match ups. First up Max England played Toby Mitchell, the first of many ‘derby’ matches between our own players. Filled with the confidence from his recent good form Toby ran out a comfortable 6-1 6-1 winner. Sid made light work of Yorkshirman Chris Wood,  winning 6-2 6-3 while David Fox (Foxy) had a superb win over Jordan Angus from Win tennis 6-3 6-4 only to find out he had to play Sid in the next round! Scott Clayton battled well to put out Jorge Wilton 6-2 6-2.

In the qualifying round Toby had a great win over Adam Skalsky, the conqueror of Bolton Arena player Peter Ashley, winning 6-3 6-4. Toby was quickly joined in the main draw by Scott Clayton who outplayed Lewis Whiteley  6-2 6-3, and Foxy who got the better of Sid 6-3 6-2.

With 3 of the 5 boys in qualifying safely through, the Main Draw started with some more coincidences! Scott and Toby Mitchell were drawn against each other. Scott’s greater experience showed as he came through 6-3 6-3. Incredibly he would now face Foxy who outplayed the 8th seed Ravi Patel 7-6 6-3. Luke Johnson had a terrific win over the 4th seed Jonathan Cornish 6-3 7-6 and Toby Martin comfortably booked his place in the next round, beating the 7th seed Matthew Frost 6-4 6-2.

Beth Askew had a sound start to the girls event beating Tiffany William 6-3 6-1, Alicia Barnett (seeded 7) had too much for Ellie Makin winning 6-0 6-2. Unfortunately Brigit lost to the 8th seed Amy Hoburn despite fighting all the way, losing 6-1 6-7 4-6.

The second round match up between Scott and Foxy was a no contest. Foxy had shin splints and couldn’t move well enough to really have a good chance, Scott winning 6-2 6-0. Toby Martin’s progress continued smoothly, beating Jonathan Binding 6-2 6-2. Luke had a scare but beat Oliver Plaskett 2-6 6-4 6-4. TEAMBATH-MCTA now had 3 boys in the Quarter finals! Beth had the biggest win of the day beating 2nd seed Abbi Melrose 6-4 7-5, a superb effort against a very determined opponent. Lissy Barnett joined Beth in the Quarter finals beating Hollie Davies 6-2 6-2.

The Quarter finals saw some more seeds tumble. Toby Martin put out the No.2 seed Sam Hutt 6-1 7-6. His tournament was now gaining momentum. Luke was too good for the 6th seed Lloyd Glasspool, winning 6-4 6-4. Scott won his 5th match in a row, beating Ben Lott 6-2 7-6 and setting up a semi with Toby. Beth and Lissy also made the semis, Beth having to work hard in a 6-4 7-5 defeat of Emily Gibbens. Lissy had a walkover vs Caitlin Hindmarsh.
5 TEAMBATH-MCTA players filled the 8 semi final spots. Poor weather forced the matches indoors. Toby and Scott had a great battle. Toby was in complete control at 6-1 5-3. His only wobble of the week allowed the ever hungry Scott to win the next 4 games to level the match 7-5, but Toby ran out a deserved winner 6-3 in the 3rd set.  Luke ran out of steam losing to the No.1 seed Luke Bambridge 6-4 6-2. Beth had too much variety for Lissy winning 6-2 6-0 .

Finals day dawned fair and the Boys and Girls finals were played on adjoining outdoor courts. Toby finished a superb week beating the top seed Bambridge 6-4 6-1. He had proved himself to be the outstanding player of the tournament, ousting both the 1st and 2nd seeds on his way to victory. Beth faced the top seed Ruth Seaborne. She could not quite emulate Toby’s achievement losing 0-6 6-7. She still has 2 years in junior tennis and her progress in the last few months augurs well for the future.

So ended an extraordinary Nationals. In all TEAMBATH-MCTA players put out 8 seeds! The Boys beat 6 of the 8 seeded players and yet not one of our boys was seeded.  Team spirit was superb throughout the event.  All the qualities that our Academy stands for were on display and all our players should be congratulated.

Samantha Murray earns wild card into WTA Ageon Classic in Edgbaston. She plays Anna Tatishvili from Georgia who is ranked 118 WTA and could face former French Open Champion & World number 19 Ana Ivanovic if both players win respective Round 1 matches. She was awarded the direct entry into the Pre Wimbledon Event for her recent strong performances, most notably last week beginning at the $75k event at Nottingham where she won through qualifying by defeating American Lindsay Lee-Walters who is 215 on the WTA tour. Murray lost out 46 16 in the Main Draw to Michelle De Brito from Portugal (WTA 170).  Before that she had been in Greece on the ITF Women's tour, where she made Semi's in $10k Heraklion then finished runner up in $10k in Crete.

Murray, 24, has swiftly risen to WTA 615 since joining TEAMBATH MCTA last year following 4 years playing at College Tennis in the USA.  She is Coached by Dave Sammel, Head Coach at TEAMBATH MCTA.

Photo courtesy of James Jordan Photography

The British Tour at Bath this weekend proved to be a great success for TEAMBATH-MCTA Academy. With 8 players in the main draw and 8 more in qualifying, it was set to be a good week.

In the men’s singles Marcus Willis, ATP ranked 611 took the title. The final saw Willis up against the 6^th seed Kyle Brassington, who had overcome the top seed Josh Goodall (ATP 422) in the quarterfinals.  Brassington (ATP 1399) had shown good form throughout the week but it was Willis’s consistency and attacking game plan that allowed him to overcome Brassington in straight sets 6-2 6-4 to take to the title.

Miguel Almeida, Miles Bugby, and Marshall Tutu all advancing into the 2^nd round. Tutu was up against Almeida in the 2^nd round and came through 6-4 6-2.

In a tough quarterfinal match, Tutu showed good form but was eventually defeated by Thomas Burn 7-5 1-6 6-3.

TEAMBATH MCTA Touring players Bugby and Willis, seeded 3 and 2 respectively, met in the semifinals. Willis won the 1^st set 6-4 but Bubgy fought back to take the 2^nd 6-3. The final set, with no breaks of serve, was taken to a tiebreak. Willis who seemed to be more relaxed throughout the match was able to secure the win with a 7-6(2) score in the final set.

The younger players also fared well and gained some good experience. Sebastian Rey lost in the last round of pre-qualifying and Toby Mitchell, David Fox, Sid Hazarika and Daniel Elston lost in the 2^nd round of qualifying. Samm Butler won through pre qualifying and qualifying, Scott Clayton and Steven Crawshaw came through qualifying but all eventually lost in the main draw.

In the Women’s draw Caroline Rosamond and Alicia Barnett were unlucky in the 1^st round losing to qualifier Sabrina Federici and teammate Sam Murray respectively. Stephanie Cornish made it into the semifinals by beating the no.5 seed Michela Ince and then encountered the no.1 seed Patrycja Sanduska from Poland. Too many unforced errors from Cornish saw her being knocked out with a 6-2 6-0 defeat.

In the final Murray was to face Sanduska, ranked 618 in the world. Both Murray and Sanduska, made a shaky start but Murray who capitalized on a culmination of errors from the Pole and won the 1^st set 6-4. With Murray trying to keep her cool Sanduska managed to break and then held to win the 2^nd 6-3. The final set looked to be tough but again a barrage of errors from Sanduska allowed Murray to take the set 6-0 and win the title.

Brigit Folland was back in action this week at the AEGON U18 Winter National Tour Finals in Roehampton. Brigit, a Student at Ralph Allen School, who was runner up in the U16s Winter National Tour Finals last December, made a great start the draw by overcoming Sarah-Kate O’Grady very comfortably 6-0 6-1.

Her quarterfinal match was cut short with her opponent Elisha Hande retiring with an injury. Brigit was into the semi finals after losing only 3 games.

Lily Miyazaki from surrey was her next opponent in the semi finals. On paper it looked like this would be a tough match but Brigit made light work of her opponent by being aggressive throughout. She overcame Miyazaki in straight sets 6-0 6-2.

In the final Brigit was up against Yorkshire’s Georgia Craven, seeded 4, who had previously overcome the no.1 seed Caitlin Hindmarsh in the semi finals. Folland made a nervous start to the match, not showing her aggressive form and consequently lost the 1^st set 6-0. Brigit who is known for her fighting qualities battled back to form and took the 2^nd set 6-3. The final set saw both players up their game and with a couple of back-to-back breaks there was no clear winner. In the end Craven came through 6-4 in the final set to take the title.