Tara Moore in the Aegon Open, WTA Nottingham 2017
Tara Moore in the Aegon Open, WTA Nottingham 2017 | (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images for LTA)

Tennis | WTA Nottingham 2021 | Bumper line-up of Brits as the grass season overlaps with clay

  • Eden Silva, Tara Moore and Sarah Beth Grey join a great line-up of Brits at the start of the grass court season in the UK
  • 10 British players in the main draw
NOTTINGHAM, UK – With Roland Garros claiming a week of the grass court season, Nottingham gets underway with a solid field.

 

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Eden Silva, Tara Moore and Sarah Beth Grey are all through to the main draw at the LTA’s Viking Open Nottingham after picking up victories in qualifying on Saturday

The trio’s success brings the total number of British players in the main draw to ten. Silva caused the upset of the day, defeating fellow Brit Samantha Murray Sharan 7-6(4), 6-2. After an early exchange of breaks of serve, the first set was evenly poised. Following six deuce points at 3-3 on Silva’s serve, the 25-year-old managed to clinch the lead.

The set eventually went to a tie break, where Silva won every point on serve to seal a one set lead. She took an early advantage in the second, breaking in the first game and marching on to complete her victory.

Meanwhile, Moore produced a fantastic comeback to overcome a one-set deficit to beat Italy’s Martina Di Giuseppe 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2. Grey beat fellow Brit Emily Webley-Smith in the final topsy-turvy encounter of the day. With the match evenly poised at one set all and 5-5 in the third set, Grey showed her mettle to save two match points before clinching a 6-3 5-7 7-5 victory.

In the first match of the day on Court 1, Britain’s Naiktha Bains bowed out 2-6 4-6 to Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.

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Jo Konta and Heather Watson received byes in today’s draw, while Jodie Burrage is first on Centre Court on Sunday against USA’s Kristie Ahn.

Silva plays Moore second on Centre on Sunday, while Grey is last on Centre against Switzerland’s Leonie Kung.

Elsewhere in the draw is an all-Brit clash between Harriet Dart and Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter plays Colombia’s Maria Camila Osorio Serrano and Fran Jones faces Astra Sharma of Australia.

Boulter, Dart, Burrage, Jones and Raducanu are all supported by the LTA’s Pro Scholarship Programme (PSP) which is the highest level of coaching, medical and financial support offered to developing players by the national governing body. It is offered to players aged between 16 and 24 with the best chance of reaching the ATP/WTA top 100 singles within five years.

The tournament will be streamed live on the BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website and LTA’s YouTube, Facebook and TikTok channels from Sunday.

 

 

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