There was more joy for the girls than the boys in the first of the Summer Cup qualifying events. An under 14 team shorn of Kylie Bilchev and Holly Fischer have qualified for their finals, which determines which teams go to the World Juniors in August. The team of Amelia Bissett, Matilda Mutavdzic (2004) and Lily Hutchings swept aside Luxemburg for the loss of just a handful of games, then beat Hungary without dropping a set today. They play France tomorrow for seeding rights in the finals.
The under 12 team of Jaqueline Ogunwale, Given Roach and Eva Shaw are trying to qualify for their finals. In their group they lost 3-0 to Italy but beat Austria 2-1 today to finish second (wins for Jaqueline and the doubles team). That means they play the top team in the other group (Poland) tomorrow, with the winner qualifying for the finals.
The remaining two age groups (under 16 and under 18) play their qualifiers over the next 3 days. The under 16s have a strong team (Gemma Heath, Emma Raducanu and Holly Fischer) which is just as well, as they have a tough group at the Northumberland Club. Fortunately they have avoided top seeds Russia, and take on the Netherlands tomorrow.
The under 16 Summer Cup is the more important of the two, as it doubles as a Junior Fed Cup qualifier, so under 16 teams are often stronger than the under18s. Our team (Eliz Maloney, Anna Loughlan and Hannah McColgan) take on Portugal in Arad (Romania) tomorrow.
Success for both teams today. Although the under 16s have avoided Russia the second seeds Belarus are also strong opponents, with their doubles team crowned European champions last week, and they will have to win against Belarus to make the finals. Eliz lost a 3 hour battle to a girl ranked inside the WTA top 900, and they scraped home in the doubles match tiebreak
U16 QQF
(4) GBR 3 Netherlands 0
Emma Raducanu d. Julie Belgraver 6-1 1-6 6-2
Gemma Heath d. Kim Hansen 6-1 5-7 6-4
Fischer/Heath d. Belgraver/Hansen 6-1 2-6 [10-3]
QSF
(4) GBR v (2) Belarus
U18 QQF
GBR 2 Portugal 1
Anna Loughlan d. Lucia Quiterio 6-1 6-4
Eliz Maloney lost to Francesca Jorge 7-5 4-6 5-7
Loughlan/Maloney d. Jorge/Quiterio 6-4 4-6 [10-7]
It appears that I am slightly premature with the under 18s. Usually in the Summer Cups only two teams qualify from each group, but there were so few entries in the under18s that there are only 3 groups, instead of the usual 4, and two of the groups therefore have 3 qualifiers. As a result the under 18s have a second chance tomorrow against the Netherlands in a 3rd/4th place play-off
The under 18s took advantage of their second chance to claim one of the two extra places in the finals, and ensure that 50% of both our girls and boys teams reached their respective finals. TE has the decisive match tiebreak score as 102-8
U18 Q3/4 play-off
GBR 2 Netherlands 1
Anna Loughlan d. Isolde De Jong 6-1 6-4 Eliz Maloney lost to Eva Vedder 0-6 6-3 3-6 Loughlan/Maloney d. De Jong/Vedder 2-6 7-5 [10-8]
The under 16s finished third in their group after a 2-0 win over Slovakia. Holly won in straights while Emma had an encouraging 3 set win over a top 50 ranked player