Burderop’s Catherine and Lewis Fletcher reached the women’s singles and mixed doubles quarter-finals between them on Monday’s fourth day at the 22nd Summer Deaflympics in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Catherine will play German fourth seed Verena Fleckenstein on Tuesday morning in a bid to reach the semi-finals of the women’s singles and give herself the chance of playing for a medal.
The Wiltshire seventh seed, who was appointed Great Britain National Deaf Tennis Coach by the Tennis Foundation earlier this year, proved more consistent than Chinese Taipei’s Hsiu-Hsiang Ho in her second round match and went on to clinch a 6-0, 6-1 victory in a contest featuring numerous long rallies.
“It was a tough one today and the score doesn’t quite tell the story of the match, but I’m very pleased with my form and very happy to be in the quarter-finals,” said Catherine, who later partnered her husband Lewis to a 6-3, 6-2 win in their opening mixed doubles match against India’s Shilipi Jaiswal and D. H. Prashanth.
Ramsbury Tennis Club’s Head Coaches will resume their bid for a mixed doubles medal on Wednesday, when they will play Chinese or Turkish opponents.
However, Lewis saw his men’s singles challenge come to an end when he bowed out to French 12th seed Maxime Sanchez 7-5, 6-0.
Catherine will be in action twice on Tuesday, as she also partners Bethany Brookes in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The reigning National champions and 2012 European silver medallists play Italian fourth seeds Barbara Oddone and Susanna Ricci Bitti, who won the women’s doubles bronze medal together at the 2009 Deaflympics in Taipiei.
Catherine and Lewis Fletcher are among five players selected by the Tennis Foundation to be members of the Great Britain squad of athletes for the 22nd Summer Deaflympics in Sofia. Play continues until 3 August, with medal matches taking place on Friday, 2 August and Saturday, 3 August.