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Men's and Women's finalists at Exeter Tennis Centre
Exeter hosted the Aegon British Tennis Tour
The University of Exeter Tennis Centre hosted a Grade 2 Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) British Tennis Tour event during the week of 3 October 2016.
The tournament was mainly open to players with a 4.2 or higher rating, so the standard of play was extremely high. The Aegon British Tour provides tournaments for developing players to gain experience of high grade tournaments and is entered by players seeking a professional career in the sport.
All games were played on the 4 Indoor acrylic courts which were recently resurfaced ensuring a high quality environment for this prestigious tournament. Home advantage was sought by a number of players from the University of Exeter and the Community Tennis Performance Programme run from the Tennis Centre.
The Women’s singles was won by Kasia Pitak defeating her sister Ola in a close highly competitive final, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Kasia and Ola use Exeter Tennis Centre as their training base and regularly attend our Junior Performance and AASE squad Programmes. University of Exeter Sports Scholar, Athena Nathalia reached the semi-final losing out to Ola Pitak whilst Kasia defeated Women’s Tennis Club Captain Lydia Green in the Round of 16. Kasia is currently ranked 47 in the National Age Group rankings and 7th in the region whilst Ola is ranked 1st in the County age-group rankings and 8th in the national rankings. It was also a fantastic achievement for 13 year old Grace Piper and 14 year old Beth Cooper reach the main draw, both players are aspiring performance players based at the centre.
The Men’s singles was won by 24 year old Matthew Frost defeating Kyle Fellows in the final with a dominant display of tennis. Matthew has a LTA rating of 1.2 and a national ranking of 338 whilst 21 year old Kyle has an LTA rating of 1.1 and is currently ranked 58 in the Open National rankings. Exeter based Howard Scott agonisingly lost out in the semi-final.
Charlotte Wallace, Tennis Programme Manager for the University of Exeter was pleased to see such a great tournament being held in the fantastic facilities; “It’s great to see the British Tour come to Exeter and give local players the opportunity to watch this standard of tennis. It also inspiring for Exeter based players to enter the tournament and earn valuable experience.
It is also really beneficial to our students to have this level of competition here and is a perfect opportunity to have some high quality practice heading into the BUCS season. Congratulations to the winners and of course Kasia and Ola for both reaching the final – a fantastic achievement.”
The University of Exeter has been awarded The Times and The Sunday Times Sports University of the Year 2016, following significant investment and development over the past 10 years. Exeter has also been named the top university in the South West in the influential The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017 which takes into account a wide range of factors, including student satisfaction and research excellence.
For information about the Tennis Programmes at the University of Exeter contact the tennis centre, on 01392 723699 or email tenniscentre@exeter.ac.uk
Monday 10 October 2016
Date: 13 October 2016