Birmingham's Bjorn Thomson has progressed into the semi-finals of the 12&under boys singles at the AEGON British Junior National Championships with an impressive win over Sam Rice from Brighton with a score of 7-5 6-1 at the West Hants Club in Bournemouth today. The AEGON British Junior National Championships is the highest domestic accolade available to Britain’s most promising young players and past champions include the current men’s and women’s British number ones, Andy Murray and Anne Keothavong.
The 11-year-old has been in commanding form recording straight-set victories throughout the tournament. Today was a repeat performance, with Thomson not allowing his opponent to get on the ball leading to 12-year-old Rice being knocked out in straight sets. The number six seed admitted that he was happy with his quarter-final performance and is confident for the semi-finals where he will meet the number one seed Lucas Taylor [tomorrow].
He said: “I played really well and am pleased with my performance today. I had good depth to my shots and hit a lot of winners. “I stepped it up in the last few games a lot as I was beginning to sense he was getting negative and frustrated with his game. I tried to be tactical about it and get him to move around the court which obviously worked well. “I’m playing the top seed in the semi-finals but I’m not worried at all, I just need to play my own game.”
Since 2006 there has been a 300% increase in the number of young people who play six or more matches a year, but this is a figure British Tennis is driving to increase even further in order to create more winners.
This is the first year that the prestigious competition has been supported by AEGON, a leading life assurance company. In September 2008, AEGON was announced as the first Lead Partner of British Tennis. AEGON backs the game at all levels, from grassroots programmes through to international events.