Both played at the 18's Grand Prix in Nottingham over the last few days. Nigel Sears and Carl Maes were both there too.
Interestingly Jennifer had to qualify (and didn't), while Jessica was straight into the main draw, where she lost 6-2 6-3 in the first round to Jocelyn Rae. Not bad going considering Jocelyn is a good 12" taller than her!
Sian Bayliss qualified and then reached the quarters, beating Amanda Cunningham 6-1 7-6 on the way. I have to say that Sian looks a better prospect to me as a far more attacking player - John Lloyd is in the press today saying that the Rens don't hit the ball hard enough to make the big time.
__________________
"Where Ratty leads - the rest soon follow" (Professor Henry Brubaker - The Institute of Studies)
Thanks for that info. They didn't cover much of the Grand Prix on the LTA site.
Awesome result for Sian there. And it's good to see that Cunningham is fit again. Jessica is a good eighteen months younger than Sian, so hopefully she can build up on the power side.
It's strange that Lloyd ( ) came up with such comments. I though that the Rens were huge publicity prospects for the LTA...
By the way, who were the winners in the Grand Prix, boys' and girls'?
I try not to feel jealous of you for being able to go around the country, seeing juniors play; but I can't help it.
Dunno who won, I wasn't there on the final day. The semis were Broady v Jackson and Rae v Windley. I'd guess that Broady won.
It was actually David Lloyd (not John Lloyd) who doubted that the Rens hit the ball hard enough. Carl Maes also makes some sensible comments in the press today/yesterday (with reference to Jessica Ren winning the Orange Bowl) about keeping achievements at a young age in perspective.
__________________
"Where Ratty leads - the rest soon follow" (Professor Henry Brubaker - The Institute of Studies)
They'll play in Tarbes as Jess said. The other British players in there are Sian Bayliss and Laura Robson.
Hannah Orlik is on the list. She said that she would only play ITFs from now on, but it looks like she hasn't had enough of crushing people in her age group.
Didn't know that they are playing in the Pro 5000 thing!
Jennifer had to withdraw from her second round match. Hope she is all right. Jessica is through to the finals with scorelines of 61 61, 62 60, 61 60 and 61 62.
She plays (beats) Hannah Martin Merchant in the finals.