12U Girls Aegon County Cup at Malvern - 28th/29th June
Captain Luke Pettit reports on the success of the county12U Girls at Aegon County Cup.
'We turned up for the weekend in positive mood ready for a battle against teams that were on paper stronger than ourselves.
We started against Shropshire, we came out of the blocks fast, with Imogen, Asena and Lucy racing to big wins for the total loss of just 3 games, onto the doubles and Lucy and Sally teamed up to great effect and battled to a 4-1 4-2 win, meaning a great start and a 4-0.
After a long rain delay, we moved into indoor courts. First on Lucy played a girl 2 ratings higher, after losing the first set she changed her tactics and battled back to take the match to a match tie-break, and after some brilliant retrieving and shot making she managed to get a 10-5 win. Again Asena came up against a player 2 ratings higher. After nearly every game going to deuce and an almighty battle Asena's drop shots proved to be the difference and she won 4-1 4-1. Imogen like the other girls came up against stiff opposition, she battled all the way but came up just short in her singles. We moved onto the doubles the last match of the day, Imogen and Asena showing massive commitment and grit managing to get in a massive win 5-4 4-5 10-2, a match that finished at 6.30pm. A great result after such a long day. Meaning we beat South Wales 3-1!
On the second day we came up against the unbeaten North Wales team. Imogen pushed her top 20 uk player all the way, just a few big winners off the North Wales girl was the difference in a 5-3 4-1 loss. Lucy Battled and pushed her opponent all over the court but came up short. Asena was our last singles match, after over 70 minutes play it went to a match tie-break, which went both ways throughout but unfortunately after an unbelievable effort we lost the tie break 11-9. Lucy and Sally went into the doubles and although played with great aggression and a great attitude went down meaning a 4-0 loss.
Our final match was Staffs, the girls showed no signs of disappointment and went straight into the match firing with Imogen on and off in double quick time 4-0 4-1, Lucy winning 4-2 4-2. Asena battled hard but her opponent was just too strong. Imogen and Asena played the final match. After a close first set the quickly found form to take the second 4-1. Meaning a 3-1 win.
The girls over the weekend were fantastic, the on-court battling and off-court support was great, they were consistently competing way above their rating bands and showed what great commitment can do to a team. The parental support for the girls was great too, and for a few close points against North Wales we were right at the top. They can be proud and if they apply this tennis to every week will do great.
Overall Result - 2nd Place
Well done girls!!!'
Team: Imogen Looker, Lucy Austin, Asena Pavlova, Sally Lewin