Great Britain's players will play for three bronze medals over the last two days of tennis competition at the22nd Summer Deaflympics after Catherine and Lewis Fletcher were beaten in their respective women's singles and mixed doubles semi-finals on the seventh day in Sofia, Bulgaria.
After going out to Chinese Taipei's Chiu-Mei Ho in the quarter-finals of the women's singles at the 2009 Deaflympics in Taipei, Catherine again found the world No. 1 to be a tough opponent in the semis this time, with Ho going through to the final 6-0, 6-2.
Seventh seed Catherine will play French sixth seed and European silver medallist Sophie Bernard in her bronze medal match as she bids for her first Deaflympic singles medal, having won women's doubles and mixed doubles medals in the last two Deaflympics.
Later in the day Fletcher and Fletcher also met the top seeds in the mixed doubles semi-finals and the British duo put up a great first set effort against Germany's European champions Heike Albrecht and Urs Breitenberger, earning a break point that would have given them a 5-4 lead.
Albrecht and Breitenberger took a 3-0 second set lead and although the Brits managed to get one game on the board they were unable to get as close to their opponents as they did in their three set European Championships semi-final in Germany last year and Albrecht and Breitenberger secured the win 6-4, 6-1.
"It's been a tough day today, but that's what you expect when you get to the semi-finals and are drawn against the top seeds," said Catherine Fletcher. "There are three bronze medals to play for now and we're excited for the challenges ahead over the next two days. The important thing is we recover as much as possible and we'll be giving it our all to try and get those medals."
Fletcher and Fletcher, the bronze medallists in the mixed doubles at the 2012 European Championships, will face either French second seeds Bernard and Mikael Laurent or USA duo Emily and Daniel Hangstefer in the bronze medal play-off in Sofia. Lewis Fletcher bids for his first Deaflympics medal and Catherine Fletcher looks to add to her mixed doubles gold medal from the Taipei 2009 Deaflympics.
Catherine Fletcher and Bethany Brookes also have the women's double bronze medal match to come on Friday as they attempt to add to their women's doubles silver medal at the 2012 European Championships. Fletcher and Brookes will play top seeds Albrecht and Verena Fleckenstain, having taken the German pairing to three sets in last year's European Championships final.
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