Local junior tennis star Christopher Simpson was one of just four British players to make the fourth round of the AEGON International Junior tennis tournament in Roehampton, south west London.
The tournament is the most important on the international junior calendar outside of the four Grand Slams and attracts some of the top junior tennis players in the world as they aim to hone in on their grass court games a week before Junior Wimbledon at the All England Club.
Christopher, who gained entry into the main draw of the tournament after battling his way through a number of qualification rounds, then came up against hard-hitting world number 51 Mate Zsiga who he beat despite the Hungarian being above him in the rankings.
The pair traded some fantastic rallies matching each other with superb serving and some ferocious baseline rallies in which the British player ranked 255 pushed Mate all the way in a match he wasn’t really expected to win. After only two breaks of serve in the first two sets which were split, Christopher took the third set to win the match 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in what was a great victory
The Loughborough Tennis Academy player bowed out the following day against India’s Sudanwa Sitaram but not before going down without a fight.
In a match that was highlighted with some phenomenal baseline rallies that wouldn’t have been out of place on the courts at the All England Club just a few miles down the road, Chris lost the first set after one break of serve in the eighth game, but battled back to take the second on a tie-break which the 17-year-old dominated.
As the match was levelled, Sitaram managed to step up a gear and just like the first set, he broke Simpson’s serve mid-set and didn’t look back, eventually taking the match 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
“It’s obviously disappointing to lose but there a lot of positives that I can take from this match and the tournament as a whole,” said Simpson.
“I gave it my best shot and I don’t really think I could have asked for much more than what I was able to do on court.
“He is a great player and I stood up to him which is what I needed to do.
“It was so close in the end, just a break of serve swung the match in his favour but that’s tennis and it’s those important points which really count.
“The tournament has been great. I always enjoy playing on grass. I’ve learnt a lot over the last few days and I’m looking forward to my next tournament where hopefully I can go one step further.”
(Courtesy of Richard Rush, Loughborough Echo)