A title and a final as Team Bath MCTA Tennis pros excel on international circuit
Team Bath MCTA Tennis enjoyed one of its most successful weeks ever on the professional tour as Anna Smith won a title in Germany and Marcus Daniell reached the final in France.
Smith, coached by Ian MacDonald, and new partner Nicole Melichar of the United States claimed the women’s doubles crown at the Nuremberg International WTA clay-court event after a thrilling final.
They lost the first set 6-3 to Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens and Johanna Larsson of Sweden but fought back brilliantly to take the second by the same scoreline before winning 11-9 in the third-set tie-break, where they saved a match point.
“It was an amazing match and an amazing week,” said Smith, who trains at the University of Bath. “I’m really pleased to have won my first title with Nicki.”
It was only the third tournament that Smith and Melichar have competed at together, having reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals on their previous appearances in Slovakia and France respectively. They will resume their partnership when the grass-court season begins next month.
Meanwhile, Daniell and men’s doubles partner Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil warmed up for their appearance at the French Open by finishing runners-up at an ATP clay-court tournament in Lyon.
Having beaten Australian duo Nick Kyrgios and Matt Reid 6-3 6-1 in the semi-finals, they recovered well from losing the opening set of the final before being edged out 6-3 3-6 10-5 by Andres Molteni of Argentina and Adil Shamasdin of Canada.
Rio 2016 Olympian Daniell, coached by Dave Sammel and MacDonald, and Demoliner are scheduled to face number-seven seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers in the first round at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
