Photo above of Brenda Cassell and Chris Baily – original article by tennisfoundation
Chris Baily and Brenda Cassell added more history to the British challenge in Spain this week as they became the first Great Britain vision impaired tennis team players to reach finals on the international stage.
After making it through his round-robin pool without dropping a game Baily won his B3 men’s singles semi-final against Ireland’s Willem Roode 6-3.
In a fast-paced and energetic match both players produced some fantastic shots at key times in one of the best matches of the tournament so far. However, Bailey gained the crucial break of serve to set up a meeting with Grzegorz Korpinski of Poland in Thursday’s final.
Brenda Cassell also went into the knockout stages of the women’s B2 singles having not lost a game in her pool matches. She maintained her perfect record with a clinical 6-0 quarter-final victory over Mayumi Kita.
Cassell dropped her first games of the week in her semi-final, but still held on to beat Adrianna Sanchez of Mexico 6-3. After going two games down Cassell finished with a flourish. She won five games in a row and ended with a good serve to book her place in Thursday’s women’s B2 singles final against Chizuko Hara.
Wendy Glasper’s bid to also reach the women’s B2 singles final started well when she beat Marta Hiniesto 6-2 in her quarter-final. Glasper controlled the match with great accuracy and spin, but her winning sequence came to an end in her semi-final, which Hara won 6-0 to set up her meeting with Cassell.
Glasper’s competition came to an end with a tense bronze medal play-off against Sanchez. In a match that ebbed and flowed Glasper managed to come back from 4-1 down to force a tie-break.
However, Sanchez found the shots that mattered at the right time to win 7-6(3), with Glasper finishing her international debut as the fourth best B2 female in the world
After making it through his round-robin pool David Deas saw his men’s B2 singles challenge come to an end in his quarter-final. In an entertaining contest Deas lost out to South Korea’s Bye Ongin 6-3.
After becoming the first Great Britain player to win a match on the international stage earlier this week, Nikhil Nair‘s men’s B1 singles challenge came to an end with a 6-1 loss against Oho of Japan, who returned a high percentage of the Brit’s serves.
