After a memorable week in Belgium, where she won her first international wheelchair tennis titles and finished runner-up in her first senior singles final, Taunton Tennis Club's Luz Esperanza Merry has gained her first senior world rankings and moved into the top 10 in the junior girls' rankings.
Merry, who bases much of her training at the Blackbrook Pavilion facility that is also home to British No. 1 Lucy Shuker, only played in her first wheelchair tennis tournament in May after being selected by the Tennis Foundation to be a part of Great Britain’s gold medal-winning team in the junior event at the annual World Team Cup.
Currently the youngest member of the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme, Merry was selected by the TF to attend the recent Cruyff Foundation European Junior Wheelchair Tennis Camp in Belgium, where she gained valuable experience through a combination of morning coaching sessions and a tournament that was played out over successive afternoons.
She went on to win the girls’ singles event at the camp after victories over two Swiss players, but better was to come as she moved on to Antwerp for the ITF Futures Series Memorial Jens VanHerck tournament.
Merry defeated Sweden’s Rebecka Bellander 6-0, 6-0 in her opening women’s singles match before defeating Belgian second seed Sofie Cox 7-5, 6-2 and Dutch third seed Natascha Hoefhamer 6-0, 6-3 to reach her first senior women’s singles final. Merry pushed Belgian top seed Els Verhoeven close in the final, but eventually world No. 59 Verhoeven claimed the title 6-4, 6-3.
However, Merry avenged her singles final loss to Verhoeven in the women’s doubles when she partnered Hoefhamer to victory for her first senior international title. The unseeded duo secured a straight sets win over their Swedish opponents to reach the doubles semi-finals before ousting Belgian second seeds Ellen Bervoets and Lise Keersmaekers 6-0, 6-0. Merry and Hoefhamer were then involved in a roller coaster of a final, but eventually held on in a decisive championship tie-break to beat top seeds Cox and Verhoeven 6-0, 0-6, (10-8).
“It was a great experience and it’s absolutely fantastic to win my first title. It was a very close match and I needed to be strong to serve to win the last two points,” said Merry, who has made her debut on the women’s world rankings at No 112 in singles and No. 115 in doubles as well improving her junior girls’ singles ranking to No. 9.
“I was really pleased with my performances. I didn't really know what to expect when I got to Belgium and I was so nervous, but I became more confident during the matches. I was delighted to beat seeded players who were more experienced than me and I am so proud and happy to have my first women’s rankings.”
Formerly a talented junior player in non-disabled competition, Merry only took up wheelchair tennis after contracting a hip infection towards the end of 2011 and subsequently entering a period of surgery and rehabilitation.
She won her first ever competitive match whilst representing Great Britain in the junior event at the World Team Cup in May this year and gained her first world ranking points at last month’s British Open in Nottingham. However, with world ranking points from two tournaments required to earn a ranking, her Belgian success has seen the Devon youngster make her mark. She will next play in another ITF Futures Series tournament in Balma, near Toulouse in France in mid-September.