Thursday saw a trio of British men make it through to the last four in Sunderland.
First through was 25 year old David Rice, currently close to his career high of 316, who was dominant in his 6-4, 6-3 victory over Micke Kontinen (FIN), and will now play fellow Team Gosling player and top seed in Sunderland, Dan Cox.
Cox maintained a highly consistent level of performance in his contest against 6th seeded Italian Riccardo Bellotti.
The mercurial Italian proved to be a stubborn opponent throughout the 2 hour 45 minute match, saving match points on his own serve at 3-5 in the final set, before the British number 4 served out for a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory. After the match Cox said ‘Today was a physically tough match, as he was a difficult player to get the ball past. I was pleased with the level I maintained throughout the three sets, as at times he was quite unpredictable, but obviously I’m pleased with the win’.
Third Brit through was Dan Smethurst who overcame qualifier Sander Arends despite losing the opening set 6-3. 23 year old Smethurst, who is based at Nottingham Tennis Centre said after the match ‘It took a while to get to grips with his unorthodox play, but after the first set a few errors crept in, and I was pleased with the way I turned the match round’. Smethurst now play’s 3rd seeded Belgian Yannick Mertens for a place in Saturday’s final.
In the women’s event, British number 4 Tara Moore played Turkish Fed Cup player Pemra Ozgen, in a repeat of the Foxhills 2013 final.
At Foxhills, the Turk was the victor, after a marathon final set tie-break, however, on this occasion it was the Brit who came out on top in three sets. Despite losing the first set on a tie-break, after taking an early 3 -0 lead, Moore was very happy to turn the match around to win the next 2 sets 6-3, 6-2. Afterwards she commented ‘We always have a close match, and I’m really please how I turned the match round after losing the 1st set’. Moore now plays 2nd seed An-Sophie Mestach.
British number 7 Jade Windley was agonisingly close to joining Moore in the last 8, when she held 5 match points against Valeria Savinykh. However, the experience of the former top 100 ranked Russian, pulled her through their 3 hour 10 minute epic for a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(10) victory.
Friday’s doubles final will be between top seeds David Rice & Sean Thornley and 2nd seeds Richard Gabb & Josh Ward-Hibbert.
Play starts on Friday at 11.00 am.