19/07/14
Great Britain’s women’s finished in fourth place in the Maere Cup and Great Britain’s men finished in sixth place in the Dresse Cup as the World Team Championships of deaf tennis came to a close in Chattanooga in the USA.
Britain’s bid for a bronze medal in the Maere Cup came to an end after two highly competitive singles rubbers against Spain, with Beth Simmons slipping to 6-3, 6-3 loss to Raquel Villamandos Lorenzo, while Beatriz Villamandos Lorenzo beat Bethany Brookes 6-4, 6-2 to earn the bronze medal for Spain with a 2-0 victory.
With Great Britain’s men facing the host nation for the second time in five days in the Dresse Cup Nick Ansell lost out to Brad Minns 6-0, 6-0, while Jack Clifton was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by Daniel Hangstefer as the USA secured a 2-0 win.
18/07/14
Great Britain’s women will play Spain for the bronze medal on the final day of the Maere Cup, while Great Britain’s men face the USA for fifth place in the Dresse Cup after beating Japan in the first of their play-off ties.
Bethany Brookes and Beth Simmons found the talented Chinese Taipei team too strong in their Maere Cup semi-final, despite Simmons making a fine start to her singles rubber as rain forced all ties to be played indoors on the fifth day in Chattanooga.
Brookes slipped to a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Chiu -Mei Ho before Chia-Wen Lin recovered to beat Simmons 2-6, 6-1, 6-0.
Great Britain’s quest for the bronze medal will see them face Spanish sisters Beatriz and Raquel Villamandos-Lorenzo.
In the Dresse Cup Peter Wilcox beat Hideyuki Shinchi 6-1, 6-0 and Jack Clifton wrapped up Great Britain’s victory over Japan with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Hiromasa Suzuki. Great Britain’s men now play the USA for the second time after going to a deciding doubles rubber in their round-robin pool tie earlier in the week.
16/07/14
Great Britain’s women earned the chance to play for a medal in the Maere Cup in Chattanooga after defeating Germany 2-1 in the last of their round-robin pool ties and securing a place in the semi-finals of the event.
Beth Simmons gave Great Britain an early lead against Germany, defeating Verena Fleckenstein 6-4, 6-1 before Bethany Brookes took the first set of her rubber against Heike Albrecht in an attempt to put the tie beyond Germany after the two singles. However, Albrecht came back to win the contest 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to force the deciding doubles rubber.
Alex and Beth Simmons subsequently won the opening set of the doubles 6-4 before Albrecht retired to give Great Britain the victory and second place in their round-robin pool.
Geat Britain now play Chinese Taipei in their semi-final on Friday, with the USA playing Spain in the other semi-final.
After completing the round-robin phase of their Dresse Cup competition earlier in the week Great Britain’s men play for seventh place on Friday against either Argentina or Japan.
15/07/14
Great Britain’s men and women’s teams both slipped to defeats to the USA in the second of their respective Dresse and Maere Cup round-robin ties, with the GB women having one remaining pool contest left against Germany.
Jack Clifton secured his second win in successive days for his country as he beat American Brad Minns 6-3, 6-4 in the second singles rubber for GB’s Dresse Cup team. With Peter Willcox having earlier lost out to Daniel Hangstefer 6-1, 6-4, the tie went to a deciding doubles, with Hangstefer and Minns eventually winning a closely fought contest against Lewis Fletcher and Willcox 7-5, 6-3 to give the USA an overall 2-1 victory.
GB’s women also had a tough time against the USA’s Emily Hangstefer and Laura Chapman, with the American duo earning a 3-0 victory.
Bethany Brookes put in a promising first set performance against Hangstefer before the American won their opening singles rubber 6-4, 6-1 and Chapman defeated Beth Simmons 6-0, 6-1. Alex and Beth Simmons paired up for the doubles, but the reigning National champions lost out to Chapman and Hangstefer6-0, 6-4.
GB’s tie against Germany on the third day of competition is their third and last round-robin contest before the play-offs for final positions.
14/07/14
Bethany Brookes and Alex and Beth Simmons got Great Britain’s Maere Cup challenge off to the best possible start in Chattanooga with a 3-0 victory over Russia, while Great Britain’s men will look to their second round-robin tie against USA to try and register a first win in the Dresse Cup after a narrow 2-1 loss to Germany on the opening day of competition.
Brookes raced to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Russia’s Anastasia Chumak in Britain’s first of three round-robin contests in the Maere Cup before Beth Simmons put the tie beyond doubt with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 win over Anastasia Grin. Bethany Brookes and Alex Simmons completed Great Britain’s victory after defeating Chumak and Marina Sidorenko 6-2, 6-3 in the doubles rubbers.
Jack Clifton kept Great Britain’s tie alive against Germany with a thrilling 4-6 6-4 7-6 (4) victory over Hans Todter in the second singles rubber following Urs Breitenberger’s 6-3, 6-4 win over Lewis Fletcher. However, the Breitenberger and Todter combination claimed the win for Germany after beating Fletcher and Pete Wilcox 6-2, 7-5.
Earlier in the day the 2014 Dresse and Maere Cup had started with Nicholas Ansell being Great Britain’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Great Britain’s men and women both face the USA on the second day of competition as the men contest the second of their two ties in their three-way round-robin pool, while GB’s women play the second of their three round-robin pool ties.
13/07/14
Great Britain’s men have been drawn in the same pool as Germany and the USA for the round-robin phase of the Dresse Cup, with Germany being Britain’s first opponent on Monday’s opening day of play in Chattanooga before facing the USA on Tuesday.
Great Britain’s women also have Germany and the USA in their pool for the round-robin phase of the Maere Cup, as well as Russia. GB’s women play Russia first, followed by USA and Germany.
12/06/14
Geraint Richards, the Tennis Foundation’s Head of Disability Player Performance, has announced the seven players selected to represent Great Britain at the 2014 Dresse & Maere Cup, the world team championships of deaf tennis, in Chattanooga, USA from 14th July to 19th July 2014.
Catherine Fletcher, the Tennis Foundation's National Deaf Tennis Coach, and Stuart Wilkinson, the Tennis Foundation's Lead Programme Coach, will captain the Great Britain women's and men's teams, respectively.
The players selected are:
WOMEN:
• Bethany Brookes
• Alex Simmons
• Beth Simmons
Captain: Catherine Fletcher
MEN:
• Nicholas Ansell
• Jack Clifton
• Lewis Fletcher
• Peter Willcox
Captain: Stuart Wilkinson
Great Britain has a long history of success at the Dresse and Maere Cup, with Catherine Fletcher and Alex and Beth Simmons all being members of the GB women's team that won the Maere Cup in Austria in 2003, for just the second time in the event's history. The same year Lewis Fletcher and Peter Willcox were members of the GB men's team that finished runner-up in the Dresse Cup.
Both Great Britain teams narrowly missed out on a medal after fourth place finishes in the 2007 Dresse and Maere Cup in Munich, Germany, while Britain was also fourth in the Maere Cup in 2011 in Turkey.
“I’m very excited by the blend of youth and experience we have for the 2014 Dresse and Maere Cup,” said Catherine Fletcher. “For myself, Alex and Beth, winning the Maere Cup for GB in Poertschach, Austria will always be among our most memorable career highlights and to be a part of such a successful GB squad on that occasion, with the men winning silver in the Dresse Cup, made it extra special.
"We will definitely draw inspiration from those performances when we're in the USA, with Alex, Beth, Lewis and Peter all among the squad once again, while Jack and Bethany have both gone on to win European medals and make their Deaflympics debuts since playing in their first Dresse and Maere Cup in Izmir, Turkey in 2011."
Richards added, “It’s a really exciting time for deaf tennis in this country and, as well as being at the very top of their game, this team are brilliant role models to show people of all abilities how much fun you can have playing tennis with friends and family on your local court.”