G2, Edgbaston

Womens SF
Alice Wilson-Marsh (2008) [8] v Allegra Korpanec Davies (2007)
Sarah Copley (2007) [6] v Min Mahmut (2007) [7]

On the way to the SF
Alice beat Alice Sharp 3 & 1, Jessica Gear 2 & 0 and Zainab Williams 3 & 3
Allegra beat Anjali Kotecha 2 & 1, Amelie Brooks [3] 4 & 4 and Shamiso Ndoro 4 & 3
Sarah beat Sophie-Marie Lowe 6-7(13) 6-0 [10-5], Bath based Turkish girl Nehir Tuna 4 & 1 and 14 year old Edie Griffiths [4] 3 & 1
Min beat Lily Doherty 4 & 1, Millie Day 2 & 1, Molly Robinson 1 & 3

Other matches of note
Edie had beaten Marelie Raath 1 & 3 and Celine Ricaud 2 & 2 to get to the QF
2nd seed Ciara Moore was beaten by Heidi Crncan in the 1st round 5-7 6-4 [10-7]. Heidi then gave a walkover to Molly Robinson in the next round.

As a side note that may be of interest to some, the top seed here was Chelsea Samways (JCH 565), a name not seen on this forum for some time. She was easily beaten in the opening round 1 & 1 by Zainab. I'm not sure how Chelsea was top seed as I can't find any record of her playing competitively since leaving the NJCAA circuit in 2020 where she had a scholarship at State College of Florida in the 18/19 season before transferring to another NJCAA Programme at Hillsborough Community College, Florida for her Sophomore year.

-- Edited by Lambda on Saturday 27th of January 2024 04:48:00 AM

G2, Edgbaston

Men
SF
Theo Coats [10] def. Marcus Walters [2] 7-6(3) 1-6 [10-6]
Thomas Drayton [4] def. Roy Keegan [7] 7-5 4-6 [10-8]

F
Thomas Drayton def. Theo Coats 6-4 6-4


Women
SF
Allegra Korpanec Davies def. Alice Wilson-Marsh [8] 6-2 6-3
Sarah Copley [6] def. Min Mahmut [7] 7-6(1) 7-6(5)

F
Allegra Korpanec Davies def. Sarah Copley [6] 5-7 6-1 [10-6]

Week 8, Corby (Grade 2)

Congratulations to Fabio on winning his first British Tour title and Teddy on her 2nd British Tour title.

Mens
SF: Fabio Nestola [1] defeated Alfie King [WC] (born 2007) 6-1 6-3
SF: Luca Bluett [2] defeated Albert Calin [Q] 7-6 3-6

F: Fabio Nestola [1] defeated Luca Bluett [2] 6-3 6-1

Womens
SF: Katie Dyson [4] defeated Molly Robinson [6] (born 2007) 6-1 7-6
SF: Teddy Prisadnikova [1] (born 2008) defeated Alice Wilson-Marsh [5] (born 2008) 6-3 7-5

F: Teddy Prisadnikova [1] (born 2008) defeated Katie Dyson [4] 6-1 2-1 ret.

Its a midweek event in Redbridge (G2) this week.

In the women's draw, for the second time this year, the top seed is someone who hasn't played a competitive tennis match - at least on ITF and LTA records - for donkey's years. There is clearly something wrong with the seeding criteria for this to happen twice in just over a month. This time it is Surrey and England netball player Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, who switched to focus on netball in late 2015. I find it curious that she has chosen to play a tennis competition in the middle of the netball season. But all credit to her as she has made the semi-final having defeated Leticia Romanova and Celine Ricaud in the opening 2 rounds.

Womens
SF: Sophie Drakeford-Lewis [1] v Min Mahmut [4] (16 yo)
SF: Brooke Black [3] (16 yo) v Amelie Brooks [2] (17 yo)

In the mens Fabio continues his unbeaten run

Mens
SF: Fabio Nestola [1] v Thomas Drayton [7]
SF: Harry Skinner [3] v Alexander Zuckerman [6]

Sophie's match against Letitia was a super match

Sophie is a tall woman (about 5 ft 11 or so?) and hits with a lot of power

Letitia is one of my favourite 2008 born players - great centre of balance, a lot of depth and strength too on her forehand

The match went to a MTB and was a cracker for spectators (not that there were many)

However, I was surprised for Sophie (as pro netball player) to be so out of shape

Both her and Celine played a really poor second match

Sophie just made tons of errors - and Celine made even more

Now Celine makes sense - she's only 14 and - by her own team's admission - lacks top fitness

She also has the most worrying technical glitch on her forehand which just cries out for future injures - she takes back as normal and then, at the very last moment, breaks her elbow so her arm is bent at a funny angle for every forehand. But the body is a funny thing - maybe she'll do fine - she certainly has some very good qualities for her age - and made Raath absolutely incansescent with rage

But for Sophie to be out of shape in the second match surprised me

Brooke has extremely fit, and excellent footwork - nice to see. Gets a lovely swing through the ball.

However, for parents who - supposedly - have committed their whole lives into making their children tennis stars - I'd be worried, if I were them

Can't go today but Sophie will beat Mahmut and Amelie was not that impressive so Brooke should definitely beat her

Coup Droit wrote:

---

Sophie's match against Letitia was a super match

Sophie is a tall woman (about 5 ft 11 or so?) and hits with a lot of power

Letitia is one of my favourite 2008 born players - great centre of balance, a lot of depth and strength too on her forehand

The match went to a MTB and was a cracker for spectators (not that there were many)

However, I was surprised for Sophie (as pro netball player) to be so out of shape

Both her and Celine played a really poor second match

Sophie just made tons of errors - and Celine made even more

Now Celine makes sense - she's only 14 and - by her own team's admission - lacks top fitness

She also has the most worrying technical glitch on her forehand which just cries out for future injures - she takes back as normal and then, at the very last moment, breaks her elbow so her arm is bent at a funny angle for every forehand. But the body is a funny thing - maybe she'll do fine - she certainly has some very good qualities for her age - and made Raath absolutely incansescent with rage

But for Sophie to be out of shape in the second match surprised me

Brooke has extremely fit, and excellent footwork - nice to see. Gets a lovely swing through the ball.

However, for parents who - supposedly - have committed their whole lives into making their children tennis stars - I'd be worried, if I were them

Can't go today but Sophie will beat Mahmut and Amelie was not that impressive so Brooke should definitely beat her

---

 I dont know much about netball, but it strikes me as being played in small areas/ zones for each player with explosive movements but not necessarily lots of ground being covered. So maybe a different type of physique needed; obviously the players have height but my instinct is it wouldn't necessarily lend itself to the type of fitness and stamina needed for tennis...I might be wrong as no expert