The West Hants club opened its gates to some of Great Britain and Europe’s best upcoming players recently as the Aegon British Tour came to town.
The tennis centre has become renowned as one of the best in the U.K and is now a regular host for events on the British Tour and the Aegon Pro series, which the West Hants club welcomes between the 21st and 28th of April.
Local interest was high in the men’s draw of the British Tour event as; Tim Prossor, Sam Glynn, Oliver Brown, Adam Watson and Tom Gutteridge were all in action on the clay courts of the Roslin Road club.
Prossor and Brown came up against each other in the final round of the qualifiers, with the former emerging as the winner after a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Glynn was unfortunate to also be beaten in the qualification process. Meanwhile, Watson was of a sufficient ranking to have already secured a spot in the main draw, whilst Gutteridge was given a wild card place in the 32 man draw.
The women’s draw also had some local players involved in the action; Lauran Hill, Anna Battersby and Selina Briggs were all entrants of the event, but experienced differing levels of success.
Battersby and Hill met in the final round of qualification which unfortunately meant one of them would miss out on the main draw. Hill took full control of the match in the early stages and never looked back as she powered her way through in a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
The men’s draw was eventually won by Scotland’s Jonny O’Mara, who beat the number one seed Nicolas Rozenweig 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Local interest waned after the opening round as Prossor and Watson were beaten by Samuel Sutton and Jarryd Bant, the 6th seed, respectively.
However, Gutteridge managed to get through the first two rounds, surviving a tricky encounter in the second round against Lewis Thompson 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the second round. He then faced Rozenweig in what proved to be another mammoth affair in the quarter finals.
After losing the first set 6-4, Gutteridge struck back in the second winning 6-2. But in the third set, his opponent came back in the match and sealed the win, taking the decider 6-3.
The women’s draw went with the seedings as the top two reached the final to compete for the title. Anna Fitzpatrick, the number one seed, didn’t drop a set on her way to the final and was given a walkover in her semi-final after her opponent Katy Dunne withdrew.
Second seed Francesca Stephenson had dropped a single set on her route to the final and had played one more match than her opponent.
Stephenson started as the brighter player in the final, taking the first set 6-2, but Fitzpatrick raced back into contention as she found her rhythm winning the second set 6-2. The momentum shift proved decisive and the top seed held off her opponent and sealed the third set with a 6-4 win, completing her victory.
Dorset’s Lauren Hill reached the quarter finals before being beaten in straight sets by the 8th seed, Kyria Dunford, whilst Selina Briggs bowed out in the first round, losing to Natalie Sayer 6-2, 6-1.
The West Hants club will welcome more top players to its grounds for the Aegon Pro Series Future event. The tournament was won by 2011 US Open Junior Champion Oliver Golding last year, and the GB player will return to defend his title.
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By Harry Lund