There was double success for Nottingham players at the Aegon British Tour Masters at the week-end, with Josh Ward-Hibbert and Freya Christie crowned the 2015 champions.
With the top 32 men and 32 women converging on the Nottingham Tennis Centre, 21 year old Ward-Hibbert, from Watnall was making his debut at the season ending event.
With a world ranking of 729, and seeded 3, Saturday had seen the Nottingham player need to recover from losing the first set in his quarter-final against Billy Harris, and against 2nd seed Marcus Willis later the same day.
Ward-Hibbert’s opponent in the final was 32 year Richard Bloomfield (Norwich), who has been world ranked inside the top 200. Bloomfield, unseeded, overcame another un-seeded player
Jonny Binding in a titanic semi-final. Binding, a Masters student at Durham University, had caused the upset of the tournament earlier in the day, combining some big serving with great
athleticism in his 64 67(4) 64 defeat of top seed and Davis Cup player Dan Evans.
Service power was always going to be a factor in the final, with Ward-Hibbert holding the record for a serve by a junior at Wimbledon, whilst the accuracy and power of Bloomfield’s serve has been a trademark of his long career.
It was Ward-Hibbert who was fastest out of the blocks quickly establishing a 4-0 lead in the first set. Showing the athleticism, power, and agility befitting a former international junior basketball player, the Nottingham professional (who had helped Nottinghamshire men to promotion in the Aegon Winter County Cup the previous week-end) wrapped up the opening set 6-2 in 29 minutes.
After an early break of serve in the second he looked on course for a comfortable straight sets victory, only to see the experienced Bloomfield capture four of the next five games to lead 5-4.
However, Ward-Hibbert was not to be thwarted in his quest for the title, winning the next three games losing only one point in the process for a 62 75 victory in 1 hour 12 minutes.
Freya Christie, from Hucknall, has had a great final four months of 2015, rising from a world ranking of 850 in August to 380 in November, becoming the highest ranked British junior on the WTA rankings, and the British number 7 at the same time.
Having won the Aegon British Tour Masters title in 2013, shortly after her 16th birthday, and successfully defended her title in 2014, the Nottingham teenager was looking for an unprecedented
third successive title. Having reached the final without the loss of a set, the top seed found herself against Lisa Whybourn, who before shoulder surgery in 2014 was on the verge of the world’s top 200.
A determined Christie took the opening set 61 in 25 minutes, and when leading 3-0 in the second looked on course to wrap up the title in double quick time, only to see an equally determined
Whybourn recover to win three of the next four games. It was Christie, however, who prevailed to become champion for the third successive year with a 61 63 victory in 1 hour 5 minutes.
After double delight for Nottingham, both players are now off to a warmer climate for some winter training, with Christie part of a group training at The La Manga complex, and Ward-Hibbert also off to southern Spain to the Sotogrande Tennis Academy.
The £2,000.00 first prize will greatly help both champions with their travel costs in the early part of 2016, when they will be looking to rise up the ATP/WTA world rankings respectively.
