Entertainment is watchword of Day 2 of the Aegon Pro-Series tennis
Day 2 of the Aegon GB Pro-Series Tennis championships at the University of Bath saw the concluding rounds of the women’s singles qualification take place.
Team Bath MCTA Academy player Jessica Simpson faced Natalia Vajdova from Slovakia. The Slovakian started the stronger of the two, breaking Simpson’s serve in the sixth game before going on to win the set 6-4.
In the second set Simpson began to play her own game and tried to come from behind as she did in the previous round. Simpson broke serve first in the third game, but Vajdova broke back straight away as they exchanged breaks with some exciting games until the scores reached 5-5. Vajdova forced a few mistakes from Simpson and went on to take the set and match 7-5.
The afternoon session saw the start of the men’s singles competition, Bath’s Andrew Bettles faced Switzerland’s Sandro Ehrat in a three set encounter which started well for Bettles who won the first set 6-3 before Ehrat battled to a 6-4 win in the second. It was one-way traffic in the third going in the favour of the Swiss player 6-0.
Toby Martin faced Tom Farquharson in a match that saw it all – ranging from unforced errors to moments of brilliance and frustration for both players in a tight match which entertained the crowd. There were times when some shots looked “unreturnable” but somehow made it back over the net.
The first set went to a tie-breaker which ended in Martin’s favour. The second set proved as exciting as the first as both players started making mistakes which saw some frustrated and dissenting body language out on court . The set seemed to be heading for another tie breaker until, with the scores standing at 5-5, Martin broke his opponents serve leaving him serving out the match to conclude 7-5.
Play is already underway today in the ensuing rounds with some world-class tennis on display. For full results and more information about the Series please go to: http://www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/AEGON-GB-Pro-Series/Home/