The season ending Aegon British Tour Masters is being held on the newly re-furbished indoor courts at the Nottingham Tennis Centre from Thursday 4 -Sunday 7 December, with a total prize money pot of £20,600.00 up for grabs. The four day event promises to have some great tennis on show with 18 world ranked men, and 6 world ranked women in the draw.
Nottingham’s Freya Christie is looking to defend the title she won in 2013, and is seeded two for this year’s event, behind Mariam Bolkvadze, who has a current world ranking of 704. Christie, from Hucknall, who has just celebrated her 17th birthday, is part of a very youthful look to the women’s event, with 23 of the 32 players who have qualified still in their teenage years.
The strength of the men’s draw is such, that former top 200 player and 2013 runner-up, Richard Bloomfield doesn’t make the list of eight seeds. Top seed, Ashley Hewitt (world ranked 568), who has two ITF Pro-Circuit singles titles to his name, will be making his first appearance at the Masters, with George Coupland, Neil Pauffley, and 2012 winner Josh Goodall occupying the other top four seeded positions.
Besides Christie, two other Nottingham players, Aaron Banasik, and Jamie Praditngam, have qualified for this end of season finale, whilst a number of other East Midland’s players will also be in action in Nottingham.
The Aegon British Tour Men’s Bonus Pool for 2014 has been won by Richard Bloomfield, who accumulated 7,731 points over 2014, with 2013 Bonus Pool winner Neil Pauffley finishing in second place with 6,250 points.
17 year old Mollie Crouch has won the Women’s Bonus Pool. The Hertfordshire teenager, vied with Beth Askew for top spot throughout much of the season, eventually finishing the year on 8,078 points, 647 points ahead of 19 year old Askew.
Play at Nottingham starts 9.00am on Thursday, with the singles finals scheduled from 10.30am on Sunday 7 December. Entry for spectators is free of charge.
For any queries on the Aegon British Tour Masters please contact richard.joyner@lta.org.uk or 07971 141329.
The draw and match times can be found on the homepage of www.lta.org.uk under ‘Latest British Events’.