University of Bath students serve up women’s doubles success at BUCS Individual Tennis Championships
University of Bath students Alex Walker and Natasha Starling teamed up to win the women’s doubles at the BUCS Individual Tennis Championships at Loughborough.
Walker (Msc Management) and Natasha Starling (BSc Business Administration) lived up to their billing as top seeds by not dropping a set in their four matches over the weekend.
And they saved their best performance for the final, where they defeated the home pair of Olivia Nicholls and Louise Holtum 6-3 6-4.
The women’s singles proved tougher for the Bath players, with Walker – the number two seed – losing 6-1 6-2 at the quarter-final stage to an inspired Nicholls, who went on to win the title.
Starling, currently on placement at Fidelity, went out to Hollie Bees of Leeds Beckett.
Emma Hurst (Sports Science) drew top seed and former top 300 WTA player Mallory Cecil, who won 6-2 6-3 despite her opponent playing some good tennis.
Hurst was supposed to play in the doubles with Elaine Genovese (Msc Health Psychology) but her partner injured her ankle and was unable to compete.
In the men’s doubles, Max England (BA Sport and Social Science) and Luke Simeone (FdSc Sports Performance) reached the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by top seeds and eventual winners Jaime Vazquez and Torsten Wietoska of Durham University.
Khoo er Yang (BSc Economics) and Sean Sivewright (FdSc Sports Performance) went out in the first round to the eventual runners-up, Peter Ashley & Nick Eeckelaers from Leeds Beckett.
However, there was better news for Sivewright in the men’s singles, where he produced some great tennis to beat the huge-serving fourth seed Michael Suleau 6-4 7-5. Clever match-play skills and patience when returning proved key for the Bath player.
Khoo er Yang also produced some superb tennis in his 5-7 6-4 4-6 defeat to eventual winner Mark Woodhouse. This was easily the former Malaysian Junior Davis Cup player’s best performance since joining the University of Bath in September.
The focus now returns to the BUCS team competitions, where the University of Bath’s men and women have both reached the cup semi-finals after winning their respective leagues.
Both matches will take place in the Sports Training Village on Wednesday, March 11 from 12.30pm, with the men taking on Leeds Beckett and the women facing Loughborough.
