14/02/15
British No. 3 David Phillipson clinched his second North West Challenge men’s singles title as the ITF 3 Series tournament drew to a close at South Ribble Tennis Centre with Dutch 18-year-old Diede de Groot claiming the women’s singles title and Israel’s Haim Lev winning a thrilling quad singles final.
Top seed Phillipson beat David Dalmasso of France 6-2, 6-3 to add to his 2010 North West Challenge title and win the eight singles title of his career.
De Groot denied a British double in the men and women’s singles when she edged out top seed Louise Hunt 7-6, 6-3, thereby ending 2011 champion Hunt’s bid for a second North West Challenge title. De Groot’s seventh senior singles title saw her end the tournament with both singles and doubles titles, while Hunt finished runner-up in both events.
Lev recovered from the verge of defeat to win the quad singles final, edging out Swedish third seed Anders Hard 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5.
13/02/15
Brits David Phillipson and Louise Hunt will be among Sunday’s men’s and women’s singles finalists at the North West Challenge while Sweden’s Anders Hard and Israel’s Haim Lev will contest the quad singles final.
Saturday’s penultimate day of play saw top seeds Michael Jeremiasz of France and Martin Legner of Austria win the men’s doubles title, while Emilie Chene of France and Dutchwoman Diede de Groot won the women’s doubles final. The quad doubles title went to the all-Israeli partnership of Lev and Shraga Weinberg.
Phillipson secured just his second career win over former world No. 1 Michael Jeremiasz as the British No. 3 secured a 6-2, 7-5 victory to book his place in the men’s final against another Frenchman, David Dalmasso. Dalmasso edged out his compatriot and fourth seed Thomas Vinatier.
Former champion Hunt eased to a 6-3, 6-1 semi-final win over Christine Schoenn of France, but there was a minor upset in the other women’s semi-final. De Groot beat her second seeded opponent in successive days as she earned a 6-4, 7-5 victory over second seed Macarena Cabrillana of Chile and will now play top seed Hunt for the title.
The quad singles semi-finals provided two of the most exciting matches on the penultimate day as Lev denied British second seed Antony Cotterill 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Meanwhile, third seed Hard defeated top seed and former world No. 1 Weinberg, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
A 6-1, 6-1 victory over Dalmasso and Vinatier saw Jeremiasz and Legner, both former world No. 1 doubles players, lift the men’s doubles title. After beating the top seeds in their semi-final, Chene and de Groot defeated second seeds Hunt and Luz Esperanza Merry 6-4, 7-6(7) in the women’s doubles final. Second seeds Lev and Weinberg claimed the quad doubles title when defeating Brits Cotterill and James Shaw 6-2, 6-4.
12/02/15
British No. 3 and top seed David Phillipson joins three Frenchmen in the men’s singles semi-finals after emulating former world No. 1 Michael Jeremiasz in securing a 6-0 6-0 quarter-final victory. Phillipson will play Jeremiasz for a place in the final, with fourth seed Thomas Vinatier taking on David Dalmasso after Dalmasso also secured a straight sets win over 2013 runner-up and second seed Yoann Quilliou.
Top seed Louise Hunt also carries British hopes in the women’s singles into the penultimate day of competition after the British No. 3 and former North West Challenge champion won her opening match against Denmark’s Louise Willersley-Olsen 6-0, 6-0. Hunt now meets Christine Schoenn, who won her all-French quarter-final against fourth seed Emmanuelle Morch 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. Chilean second seed Macarena Cabrillana clinched a close quarter-final against Britain’s world No. 2 junior Luz Esperanza Merry 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4 ahead of playing Diede de Groot of the Netherlands. De Groot knocked out French third seed Emilie Chene 6-0, 6-2.
Top seed Shraga Weingerg and third seed Anders Hard both won their quad singles quarter-finals 6-0, 6-0 ahead of playing each other for a final berth. Second seed Antony Cotterill celebrated his birthday in style as he overcame fellow Brit James Shaw 6-1, 6-1 to book a semi-final against Haim Lev, the second Israeli semi-finalist, who came back from a et down to win his quarter-final against Richard Green 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Jeremiasz and Martin Legner of Austria, the top seeds, will meet French second seeds Dalmasso and Vinatier in Saturday’s men’s doubles final, while Hunt and Merry will bid to secure a British victory when they play Chene and de Groot in the women’s doubles final. Top seeds Cotterill and Shaw will hope to secure another British win when they play second seeds Lev and Weinberg in the quad doubles final.
11/02/15
David Phillipson and Ed Holt will go head-to-head in an all-British quarter-final on Friday’s second day of the North West Challenge after Holt fought back from a set down to win his opening match, another all-British contest against Dermot Bailey, 3-6 6-1, 6-1.
While top seed Phillipson advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Spain’s Daniel Caverzaschi, Holt was not the only player to earn victory from a set down after Adam Berdichevsky edged fellow Israeli Asaaf Stokol 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(10) and French fourth seed Thomas Vinatier held off a strong challenge from Brit Paul Stewart 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Vinatier’s countrymen Michael Jeremiasz, Yoann Quillou and David Dalmasso reached the last eight much more comfortably, with Dalmasso and 2014 runner-up Quilliou to now contest an all-French quarter-final. Hungary’s Roland Nemeth completes the line-up for the last eight.
Luz Esperanza Merry joined fellow Brit Louise Hunt in the women’s singles quarter-finals after beating Chile’s Maria Diaz 6-3, 6-0 and the 14-year-old world No. 2 ranked junior now plays the tournament’s other Chilean entrant, Macarena Cabrillana. While Hunt has a bye into the last eight, the quarter-finals will feature three Frenchwomen after third seed Emilie Chene, fourth seed Emmanuelle Morch and Christine Schoenn enjoyed straight sets wins along with Denmark’s Louise Wilersley-Olsen and young Dutchwoman Diede de Groot.
The first day’s two quad singles matches resulted in straightforward wins for Sweden’s Petter Edstrom and Brit James Shaw, who will now meet the top two seeds, Shraga Weinberg and Antony Cotterill.
10/02/15
Former world No. 1 singles and doubles players are among a high class entry for the North West Challenge as international wheelchair tennis returns to South Ribble Tennis Centre from 12th to 15th February.
The first British world ranking event of 2015, the North West Challenge is now in its ninth year. It is sanctioned as an ITF 3 Series tournament for the third successive year and is supported by the Tennis Foundation and sponsored by TBS Sports.
This year’s tournament welcomes 53 players from 11 different countries this week, with British No. 3 and two-time Paralympian David Phillipson heading the home entry in the men’s singles.
Phillipson’s chief opposition includes 2006 ITF World Champion Michael Jeremiasz of France who, along with Austria’s Martin Legner, is also a former world No. 1 doubles player. Jeremiasz, a men’s doubles gold medallist at the Beijing Paralympics heads a French contingent that also includes Yoann Quilliou, the 2014 North West Challenge runner-up.
Meanwhile, Ed Holt, a member of Great Britain’s World Team Cup bronze-medal winning team along with Phillipson in 2014, boosts the home entry.
In the women’s draw London 2012 Paralympian and British No. 3 Louise Hunt will bid to go one better than her runners-up spot in the women’s singles in 2014. Hunt, a former North West Challenge singles and doubles champion, and world junior No. 2 Luz Esperanza Merry, head the home entry in the women’s singles, which also includes Lancashire’s Helen Bond.
Hunt, Merry and Bond’s overseas opposition includes Chile’s Macarena Cabrillana and Maria Diaz, French trio Emilie Chene, Emmanuelle Morch and Christine Schoenn and the Netherland’s former world junior No. 1 Diede de Groot.
Another former world No. 1 singles and doubles player heads the entries for the quad singles as Israel’s Shraga Weinberg makes his first visit to South Ribble Tennis Centre.
Weinberg, currently ranked world No. 8, lines up alongside 2014 quad singles runner-up Antony Cotterill, who will bid to keep the title in the North West. The Macclesfield player, currently world ranked No. 12, spent most of 2014 ranked inside the world’s top 10 and achieved a career best ranking of No. 5 last March. Up-and-coming Brit James Shaw and Sweden’s former world No. 5 Ander Hard are also part of a strong field.
Tournament Director and former Great Britain World Team Cup player Tony Knappett is set to contest the men’s singles alongside the likes of Phillipson, Jeremiasz, Legner and Holt this year.
"This North West challenge continues to grow in prestige and reach every year and we are delighted to welcome players from South America, as well as former world No. 1 players such as Michael Jeremiasz, Martin Legner and Shraga Weinberg to face some of Britain’s best,” said Knappett.
“In 2014 Jordanne Whiley won the women’s singles and doubles at our tournament before going on to make history as the first Brit to complete a calendar year Grand Slam, and I know Louise and Esperanza will be hoping to keep the title in Great Britain amid tough overseas opposition.
“I would like to thank the Tennis Foundation and the team at South Ribble Tennis Centre for all they've done again to support this year’s event and I would encourage all local tennis fans to come down over the four days of the tournament to watch some world class sport,” he added.
The North West Challenges is an ITF 3 Series event on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour and one of nine British world ranking events in 2015. The north west also hosts the USN Bolton Arena Indoor next week, from 17th to 21st February.
Entry is free for spectators and further information can be found at www.northwestchallenge.org.uk.