Battling displays but to no avail as Team Bath Tennis trio see their Wimbledon runs come to an end
Team Bath Tennis trio Marcus Daniell, Millie Bissett and Morgan Cross all battled hard but sadly to no avail at Wimbledon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Touring professional Daniell, coached by Dave Sammel, was restricted by a hip injury he had sustained in the previous round as his brilliant men’s doubles journey with Wesley Koolhof came to an end at the quarter-final stage.
They were on the back foot from the off against Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek from Slovakia, conceding two breaks of serve as they lost the first set 6-2.
Daniell and Koolhof quickly found themselves a break down in the second set but, after a medical timeout for Daniell, rallied superbly to take it to a tie-break. However, Dodig and Polasek went on to win it 7-1 and then sealed their place in the semi-finals by edging a close-fought third set 6-3.
Despite his injury, Daniell returned to Court 12 on Wednesday with American partner Jennifer Brady to face Mate Middelkoop and Zhaoxuan Yang from China in the third round of the mixed doubles.
They lost the first set 6-2 but again dug deep to win the second 7-5 in a tie-break before going a break up in the third. However, Middelkoop and Yang were then able to win four games in a row to clinch a 6-2 6-7(5) 6-4 victory.
Tuesday’s action also saw Bissett and Cross, coached by Eve Hughes and Ian MacDonald, return to Junior Wimbledon for a second successive year in the girls’ doubles.
They got off to a great start against Weronika Baszak and Martyna Kubka, recovering from an early break to win the first set 6-4, but their Polish opponents responded in kind to level the contest.
Bissett and Cross – pictured above with Roger Federer on the SW19 practice courts ahead of their match – won the opening two games of the third set but were unable to build on that advantage as Baszak and Kubka hit back to win 4-6 6-4 6-2.
Team Bath Tennis are running summer camps for youngsters inspired by Wimbledon throughout the forthcoming summer holidays. Click here for more information.
