West Hants star Eliz Maloney has given yet another display of her potential by reaching the final of the Invitational girls’ 14 & Under Winter National Tour Finals event at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.
Maloney, who is now ranked as the third best 14-and-under girl in the U.K, didn’t drop a set on the way to the final where she came up against top seed for the event Holly Thompson, from Sussex.
In the final, third seed Maloney established a strong lead and took the first set 6-1. But Thompson fought back into the match, battling to the second set 6-4 and levelling the score. A tense deciding set followed and it was Thompson who edged it, taking it 6-4 to claim the title.
Maloney’s impressive performance will put her in good stead for the rest of the season and making such a strong statement early on in the year will no doubt make her one of the names to watch in 2014.
The Dorset star wasn’t the county’s only representative at the tournament. Harry Butler claimed an early scalp in the Boy’s event, he beat the second seed Jack Draper, from Surrey, from a set down in the first round, 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-2. Unfortunately for Butler, his run ended in the next round after he was beaten in three sets by eventual semi-finalist Aidan McHugh 1-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Another West Hants player showed her quality in the event as well as Maloney. Esther Adeshina beat the fourth seed Kate Malazonia, from Warwickshire, in the first round 6-2, 7-6(1), before battling past Lancashire’s Olivia Peet in the quarter-finals 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Adeshina came up against top seed and eventual champion Thompson in the semi-finals, she was beaten 6-2, 6-2, ending the possibility of an all-West Hants final.
Click Here for more information on the 14 & Under Winter National Tour Finals at the Nation Tennis Centre.