The world’s premier event for junior wheelchair tennis players under 18 takes place alongside the final four days of Les Petits As, the prestigious tournament for non-disabled junior players where Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic first met as 13-year-olds.
Merry partnered Russia’s Viktoriia Lvova to win the girls’ doubles as the duo earned a commanding 6-3 6-0 victory over Switzerland’s Nalani Buob and Turkey’s Aysegul Zararsiz in the title decider. Merry follows in the tracks of Paralympians and fellow Brits Jordanne Whiley and Louise Hunt, who have previously won the girls’ doubles title.
Merry, No. 2 in the girls’ singles world rankings, eased through her first two singles matches in Tarbes, beating Zararsiz 6-0, 6-1 and world No. 3 Buob 6-2, 6-0 to ensure her place in Sunday’s final ahead of her last round-robin match on Saturday against 16-year-old world No. 1 Lvova. Merry went on to take the opening set against Lvova before the top seed recovered to earn a 5-7, 6-1 6-3 victory.
With the Merry and Lvova meeting again in Sunday’s final as Murray and Djokovic took to the court for their Australian Open final in Melbourne, Merry threatened to take Lvova to a deciding set again when she gained an immediate break at the start of the second set. Lvova eventually clinched the title 6-3, 6-3, but Merry, who will be young enough to contest the next three Junior Masters, is already excited for next year’s event.
“I loved the Tarbes experience, it was very special to be part of Les Petits As and was a great fun event,” said Merry, one of two players on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme to qualify for the tournament based on their junior world rankings.
“I really enjoyed playing with Viktoriia and. of course winning the doubles, but I was disappointed not to win the (singles) final. But I am looking forward to next year and winning the singles and doubles,” added Merry, who started playing wheelchair tennis competitively less than two years ago.
She will now turn her attention to playing more senior events throughout 2015, having ended 2014 with a senior women’s s ingles ranking of No. 48 and a senior women’s doubles ranking of No.44.
