Original article on the tennisfoundation.org.uk
Loughborough Vision Impaired Tennis Tournament
James Currie, Brenda Cassell and Rosie Pybus all secured singles and doubles titles as the Dan Maskell Tennis Centre at Loughborough University hosted the first Tennis Foundation Visually Impaired Tennis Regional Tournament of 2017.
Currie and Neil Fradgley lived up to their seedings in the men’s B3 singles to reach the final with relative ease, with Currie winning his quarter-final and Fradgley winning his semi-final without dropping a game. Both players were well matched in the final, but Currie gained the decisive break of serve to prevail 7-5.
The two players also teamed up in the men’s visually impaired doubles, reaching the final without dropping game. They were then awarded a walkover ahead of their title decider against Ralph Aldred and David Donnelly.
Chris Blake and his partner Matthew Tearle were the semi-finalists beaten by Currie and Aldred in the doubles, but Blake still left Loughborough with one title to his name. He won the men’s B4 singles for the loss if just one game. Blake followed up his 6-0 semi-final win over David Pickering by defeating Shane Downing 6-1 in the decider.
While Cassell had a bye into the women’s B3 singles semi-finals, the remaining three semi-finalists all won their opening matches 6-0. Thereafter, Cassell defeated Gillian Currie 6-2 and Odette Battarel overcame Sarah Fortescue 6-3 to also book her place in the final. A second successive 6-2 victory for Cassell clinched the title.
Pybus came out on top in a three-way round-robin contest for the women’s B 4 singles as the North East player defeated runner-up Saran Whelan 7-5 and Minerva Ainsworth 6-2 in her two singles matches.
Cassell and Pybus gained their doubles victory for the loss of just one game in the final. After defeating Ainsworth and Joanne Turnbull 4-0, Cassell and Pybyus earned a comfortable 4-1 win over fellow doubles finalists Currie and Fotescue.
Nikhil Nair added the Loughborough title to his collection of B1 singles victories at regional tournaments after winning three tie-breaks. Nair edged out Peter Bosher 4-3(4) in his quarter-final before defeating Yvette Priestley 4-3(5) to reach the final. There was an even closer finish to the final as Nair gained a narrow 4-3(6) victory over Naqi Rizvi.
However, Nair was denied a brace of titles after finishing runner-up in the B1 doubles alongside Christopher Jeffries as Bosher and Rizvi claimed victory. Nair and Jeffries booked their place in the final after another tie-break, defeating Nadeem Mughal and Daniel Owen 4-3(5), but Bosher and Rizvi made it successive 4-1 wins to take the title.
View all the Final Draws online
We kick-started the new tennis year with the first regional tournament taking place at a new venue, Loughborough University. 32 players took part which was a fantastic entry. Congratulations to all the winners & I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.
The next tournament is taking place from 8 – 9 April in York. If you are free & haven’t entered yet please click on the following link & enter now!
https://www3.lta.org.uk/Competitions/Competition/?ctn=1-9XONTZ4
If you need any help entering please call me on 0208 487 7068.
The closing date is Sat 11 March.
A full list of the all the tournaments this year & links to enter can be found on the Tennis Foundation website by clicking here
If you need any further information or have any questions please let me know.
Kind regards
Kirsty Thomson
Disability Tournament Director
084587 20522 D: +442084877068 M: +447432732202
Tennis Foundation, The National Tennis Centre, 100 Priory Lane, Roehampton, London, SW15 5JQ
