The quarter-final stage kicked off on Wednesday with some glorious matches to decide the first semi-finalists of week 2.
The day kicked off with Brandon Murphy upsetting at the match tie-break UKPL veteran Billy Harris, who couldn’t convert 5 match points. After a balanced first set seeing just one break of serve, the 21-year-old from Sutton really hit the ground running and managed to come back from a set down and hold his nerve and strength to come up on top in the decider.
Murphy, who is at his very first appearance at the UK Pro League, will be joined in the semi-final by Ewan Moore, who defeated Tom Hands 4-6, 6-4, 10-4 in a match that was almost symmetrical to the Murphy-Harris quarter final.
The Scotsman played his best tennis in the moments that mattered, showing off his skills and perfectly timed passing shots which are not new to the UK Pro League audience.
In the last men’s quarter-final, Harry Wendelken overcame in a straight sets victory to beat Sean Hodkin 7-6(5), 6-2. The 20-year-old was unstoppable, showing such a variety of shots, from forehands, backhands-down-the-line and tremendous dropshots.
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Having yet to drop a set this week, Wendelken is definitely looking confident as he goes into his first UK Pro League semi-final. Tomorrow’s clash between Foley and Johnson will determine who’ll be his opponent.
The very first women’s match saw Estonian guest player Elena Malygina storm past week 1 winner Arina Vasilescu, in a contest that was tighter that the scoreboard suggests. In her 6-2, 6-2 victory, Malygina was relentless, switching up her shots and never let Vasilescu get in control of the match. The Estonian will face Joanna Garland in Friday’s semi-final, after the Chinese-Tapei player defeated 6-0 6-0 Michelle Dzjachangirova.
Sofia Samavati came out victorious against Alice Gillan, after a very intense 2 hour match. The 21-year-old from Denmark is now on a 10-match winning streak, following her glorious run at the W25 in Loughborough last week and managed to avoid a match tie-break by winning 3 games in a row at the end of the second set.
The 9th-12th round robin stage also kicked off as there were wins for David Fox, Andre Lukosiute, and Jack Gibbens, who all won comfortably in straight sets.