16 year old Freya Christie won the Aegon British Masters women’s singles on Sunday at Nottingham Tennis Centre, with a 61 36 61 defeat of top seed Lucy Brown.
Christie who reached the final un-seeded in 2012, was seeded 4 at this year’s Masters, and stormed through the opening set in 29 minutes for the loss of just one game. However, it was 20 year old Brown who took an early grip of the second set, creating a 3-0 lead. Despite having game points in two of the next three games, the momentum appeared to be shifting away from the top seed, with Christie levelling for 3-3, but with Brown only dropping three points in the next three games, she captured the second set 6-3 to level the match at a set all.
Christie, who hits with incredible power for someone who has only just celebrated her 16th birthday, was not in a mood to be second best, with the final set taking a similar path to the first, to secure the title with a 61 36 61 victory.
After the match Christie commented ‘ I’ve had a good end to 2013 with my first pro ranking, getting to two pro quarter-finals’, and now this. It’s especially nice playing in my home town, and mum, aunt, and brother all being able to watch’. Meanwhile, the men’s event saw top seed Marcus Willis win the title without the loss of a set. The 23 year old from Reading, had never previously been beyond the quarter-final stage, where ironically he had lost to Richard Bloomfield on both occasions. With the match expected to be dominated by serve, it was significant when Willis broke the Bloomfield serve in the opening game, as this proved to be the only service break in the set, which Willis won 6-4. With the momentum firmly in the top seed’s favour, two breaks of serve in the second set, secured Willis the title 64 62.
After the match, the 2103 Aegon British Tour Masters Men’s Champion said ‘This is a great way of rounding off the year. I wasn’t sure what to expect of 2013, but started it with good performances in Glasgow and Preston [ITF Pro events], got my world ranking up into the 300’s and now finished with this’.
The first event on the Aegon British Tour 2014 calendar is at Graves, Sheffield 30 December-4 January, with more information on the Aegon British Tour at www.lta.org.uk/aegonbritishtour