Ash Priors' Lucy Shuker is hoping for another medal winning BNP Paribas World Team Cup performance after finishing runner-up in the women’s doubles at the Japan Open, the latest Super Series event of 2015, over the weekend.
Shuker and Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock were in peerless form early in the tournament in Iizuka, earning two 6-0, 6-0 victories to reach the final of one of the world’s top six tournaments outside of the Grand Slams. However, their title ambitions were thwarted by top seeds and five-time Grand Slam champions Jordanne Whiley and Yui Kamiji, who edged the title decider 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“We played some really good tennis and it was a shame to lose in the final in a tense third set as we’d played so well in the first set. But it’s good to know we competed so closely with the world No 1 ranked pairing,” said Shuker, who has moved up to No. 8 in this week's women's singles world rankings after bowing out of the women’s singles to world No. 4 Ellerbrock in the quarter-finals, as well as returning to the top four in the women's doubles world rankings.
National allegiances will be drawn again next week, when Shuker will join Whiley and Louise Hunt in Great Britain’s women’s team for the World Team Cup in Turkey, which begins on Monday.
London 2012 doubles bronze medal winners Shuker and Whiley, and British No. 3 Hunt have joined forces to win three World Team Cup silver medals behind the Netherlands since 2009. That includes the last two years, when Britain has beaten Germany in successive semi-finals. Last year Shuker went on to achieve something that few players have managed in the last 30 years of the prestigious competition when she won the opening singles rubber of the final against the Netherlands before Great Britain slipped to a 2-1 loss.
“It will be great to be representing my country again. It’s always an honour and following our recent success I’m excited to partner up with my team mates Jordy and Louise,” added Shuker. “A big thank you to the Tennis Foundation and the National Lottery funding through UK Sport for their continued support and it would be fantastic if we could repay that support by going one better than the last two years and win the gold this time.
“There’s guaranteed to be lots of match play and that will also help me prepare well for my upcoming tournaments in Korea directly after the World Team Cup as we enter the ranking qualification window for Rio 2016.”
Shuker will not be the only South West-based player representing Great Britain in next week's World Team Cup, with Plymouth's Luz Esperanza Merry also a member of Great Britain's junior team for the third year in a row after being a part of the GB junior team that won gold in Antalya in 2013.