16/08/14
Louise Hunt won her fifth women’s doubles title of 2014 as the Ath Open drew to a close, the British No. 3 partnering Spain’s Lola Ochoa to victory. The third seeds beat Dutchwoman Diede de Groot and Belgium's Els Verhoeven 6-3, 6-2, with Hunt and Ochoa collecting their second title of the season together.
Earlier in the day Hunt made a good start in her bid for a third women’s singles title this year, but de Groot fought back from a set down to prevail 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Ath Open Website
15/08/14
Louise Hunt is into the women’s singles and doubles finals in Ath after winning three matches on the third day of play in Belgium.
Top seed Hunt beat Australian seventh seed Ssarah Calati 6-2, 6-4 in her quarter-final and Spanish fifth seed Lola Ochoa 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to earn her place in Saturday’s final against eighth seed Diede de Groot of the Netherlands.
With Hunt and fellow Brit Luz Esperanza Merry both in the same women’s doubles semi-final third seeds Hunt and Ochoa beat Merry and Pauline Helouin of France 6-3, 6-3 and Hunt and Ochoa go on to face the fourth seeded partnership of de Groot and Belgium's Els Verhoeven.
Dermot Bailey also had two men’s second draw singles matches in a day, winning the first one against Mexico’s Ortega Raul Ortego 6-1, 6-4, but then bowing out in the semi-finals against Mohammed Thalij 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.
Ed Holt and Paul Stewart saw their men’s doubles challenge come to an end in the semi-finals after slipping to a 6-3, 6-2 loss to the more experienced pairing of Morocco’s Lhaj Boukartacha and Italy’s Fabian Mazzei.
14/08/14
Louise Hunt moved into the women’s singles quarter-finals and Dermot Bailey reached the men’s second draw singles quarter-finals on the second day of the Ath Open as Hunt and Luz Esperanza Merry ensured that there will be a Brit in the women’s doubles final and Ed Holt and Paul Stewart paired up to reach the men’s doubles semi-finals.
Hunt beat Portier 6-0, 6-0 in her opening women’s singles match and goes on to play seventh seed Sarah Calati of Australia for a place in the semi-finals. Merry made a promising start to her women’s singles second round contest against her much more experienced opponent Lola Ochoa, but the Spanish fifth seed held on to advance 7-5, 6-2.
Top seed Bailey eased through his opening match in the men’s second draw singles, defeating Joaquim Palma 6-0, 6-1 to set up a quarter-final against another Mexican player, sixth seed Raul Ortega.
Third seeds Hunt and Ochoa beat Australian duo Calati and Luba josevski 6-2, 6-2 to move into a women’s doubles semi-final that will feature two Brits after Merry and Pauiline Helouin of France, the second seeds, beat Natascha Hoeffamer and Ukraine’s Olena Shyngaryova by the same score.
Holt and Stewart won a men’s doubles first round contest that featured three Brits after overcoming Bailey and Felix Garcia of Spain 6-1, 6-4. The British duo will play Morocco’s Lhaj Boukartacha and Lahcen Majdi of France in the semi-finals.
In the men’s singles Holt put up a good effort against Daniel Caverzaschi, stretching the Spaniard to a third set before Caverzaschi book his placed in the last eight 6-0, 5-7, 6-3. Stewart slipped to a 4-2, 4-1 loss to Dutch player Carlos Anker in the first of his men’s consolation round-robin matches.
13/08/14
Ed Holt and Luz Esperanza Merry both registered first round wins on the opening day of the Ath Open.
Holt battled past Belgium’s former world No. 13 Gert Vos 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to book his place in the men’s singles quarter-finals against Daniel Caverzaschi of Spain. Paul Stewart will bid for success in the men’s consolation singles after bowing out of the main draw to Italian No.1 Fabian Mazzei 6-1, 6-2.
Merry secured her place in the second round of the women’s singles after earning a 7-6(4), 7-5 victory over Olena Shyngaryova of Ukraine. Merry now meets Spanish fifth seed Lola Ochoa, while Louise Hunt will open her campaign against Frenchwoman Cathy Portier after her first round bye.
After a first round bye in the men’s second draw singles Dermot Bailey will play Mexico’s Joaquim Palma in his opening match while Holt, Stewart and Bailey are all set to meet in the first round of the men’s doubles
Merry and Pauline Helouin of France are second seeds for the women’s doubles, while Hunt and Ochoa are third seeds. Both partnerships have byes into the quarter-finals.
12/08/14
Louise Hunt, Luz Esperanza Merry, Ed Holt, Paul Stewart and Dermot Bailey provide a five-strong British challenge at the Ath Open.
British No. 3 Hunt is the women’s singles top seed in Belgium and is drawn in the same half of the draw to 13-year-old Merry, the No. 5 player in the junior girls’ rankings.
Like Hunt and Merry, Holt represented Great Britain in the 2013 bNP Paribas World Team Cup earlier this year and he and Stewart are in opposite halves of the men’s singles draw.
Bailey, a quarter-finalist in the men’s singles in 2013, plays only his second tournament of 2014 and after narrowly missing out on a place in the men’s main draw singles he is the top seed for the second draw singles.