By Glenys Furness
- Naomi Broady made doubles semi-final in Katowice
- Dom Inglot & Robert Lindstedt make quarter-final in Marrakesh
KATOWICE, POLAND Naomi Broady & Alicja Rosolska had the best result this week, having a great run to the semi-final before being edged in a tight match.
Britwatch Tennis:
Broady teamed up with Rosolska and in the first round faced Elena Bogdan & Andreea Mitu. The Brit/Polish team dominated both sets, losing only two games the whole match. Bogdan & Mitu were out-classed as Broady & Rosolska served up two ‘breadstick’ sets to take it 6-1, 6-1 and booked a place in the quarter-final.
There, they were set to face Marina Erakovic & Karin Knapp. However, the Brit/Polish pairing were handed a walkover into the semi-final after Erakovic & Knapp withdrew from the doubles.
In the semi-final the Brit/Pole faced the Japanese pairing of Eri Hozumi & Miyu Kato. Broady & Rosolska couldn’t have got off to a better start as they dominated the first set. With the Japanese struggling to hold or break the Brit/Pole delivered a ‘bagel’ to take the first set 6-0.
The second set saw the Japanese playing better and finally managing to make in-roads into the Broady & Rosolska game. Both teams exchanged a break of serve, before Hozumi & Kato made the vital move to level the match. Taking the second set 6-4 a match tie-break was needed to decide the finalists
In the match tie-break both pairs were playing extremely well, and the score was very close Broady & Rosolska had a match point at 10-9 but the Japanese fought back to edge the breaker 12-10 to reach the final.
Anna Smith & Jocelyn Rae were the fourth seeds. They found themselves up against fellow Brit Heather Watson & Poland’s Klaudia Jans-Ignacik in the first round. Rae & Smith showed their experience as a regular pairing by dominating the first set 6-2.
Watson & Jans-Ignacik were soon working well together as they themselves dominated the second set, taking it 6-2 to force a match tie-break. The final set was close however the Brit/Polish pairing came away with a quarter final spot after clinching it 10-6.
The quarter-final pitted the Brit & Pole against Stephanie Foretz & Amandine Hesse. The teams exchanged breaks in the first set, which stayed very close, ultimately Foretz & Hesse edged the first set 7-5 as they broke four times to Watson/Jans-Ignacik three.
The second set again saw the teams exchanging breaks, each breaking twice. However the French team edged the set 6-4 to seal a semi final spot.
Over in Marrakesh Jonny Marray had teamed up with Teymuraz Gabashvili and they had drawn Guillermo Duran & Maximo Gonzalez in the first round. The Argentines secured the vital break in the first set and took the set 6-4.
In the second set Marray & Gabashvili working better together and forced a tie-break. The Brit/Russian team were still playing well together, however the Argentines edged the tiebreak 9-7 to win the match.
Colin Fleming & Jonathan Erlich were also here and the first round saw them against Marin Draganja & Aisam-Ul-Haq Quershi. The Brit/Israeli pair made a great start and secured a break of serve to take the set 6-4.
The second set saw Draganja & Quershi fight back, securing a break of serve themselves taking the set 6-4 to level the match and force a match tiebreak.In this the Brit/Israeli pair were unlucky as they went down 10-6 and bring their campaign to an end.
Dom Inglot & Robert Lindstedt were top seeds, the first round saw them against the wildcard pairing of Rede El Amrani & Lamine Ouahab. The Moroccan team were inexperienced as only Ouahab has a doubles ranking, this didn’t stop them creating break point chances on the top seeds service games.
The Brit/Israeli team saved each one and took the first set easily 6-2. The second set saw the wildcard pairing playing better, but this was still not enough as the top seeds secured the set 6-4 and a place in the quarter-final.
There the top seeds faced Draganja & Quershi for a spot in the semi final. Inglot & Lindstedt did not have things their way in the first set, finding themselves down a break.
The top seeds were not able to recover from that in the set and lost 6-3. The second was a much tighter affair as the seeds forced a tie-break. Unfortunately Draganja & Quershi dominated the tie-break and took it 7-2 to knock out the Inglot & Lindstedt.
In Houston, Neal Skupski teamed up with Nicholas Monroe and in the first round faced a wildcard pairing of Reilly Opelka & Tommy Paul. The first set had both teams going toe to toe and no one giving an inch. Inevitably the set ended up in a tie-break, which saw the Americans a tight breaker 8-6.
The second set saw the Brit/American pairing secure a vital break of serve to level up the match taking it 6-4. A match tie-break would decide which team reached the quarter-final. Opelka & Paul dominated the tie-break as the sealed the win 10-4.
In Bogota Tara Moore was trying to qualify for the main draw. She had drawn the sixth qualifying seed of Catalina Pella. Moore had a tricky task to get past Pella with the seed showing her higher ranking. A break of serve was all the Argentine needed to take the first set 6-4
In the second set Moore was struggling against the seeded player, as the Argentine dominated the set. Moore found herself on the wrong end of a bagel set 6-0 and went out of the qualifying at the first stage.
On the challenger tour and Liam Broady was playing qualifying in Gwangju. Seeded second the Brit had a Bye in the first round. The final qualifying round drew Broady against Daniel Yoo seeded seventh.
The Korean player was not giving Broady any ground in the first set as both players managed breaks of serve, however it was the Brit who came away with the set, breaking at the vital time to seal it 7-5.
The second set was much the same as the first, with both players exchanging a break of serve. However, ultimately Broady proved too much for the Korean and the Brit made the main draw taking the set 6-3
Next week Brits are in action in Monte Carlo, Sarasota & Gwangju
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