1st November, 2021

UK Pro League qualifying goes down to the wire

There was high drama as qualifying for the UK Pro League Finals Week went down to the final day of the final week.

Lauryn John-Baptiste needed to secure victory in Week 9 to have any chance of making Finals Week while she also needed Danielle Daley, who occupied the ninth and final qualifying spot, to not finish higher than sixth.
And it went down to the wire as John-Baptiste won the Week 9 event as her opponent in the final, Katie Stresnakova, retired in the second set.

 

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The Premier League of British tennis, the innovative format is the only domestic competition for the UK’s top professionals and brings them together for nine weeks of action to qualify for Finals Week at the Shrewsbury Club in November.
And with over half a million pounds of prize money up for grabs across the season all the action is broadcast live on BT Sport, The Tennis Channel and UKproleague.tv, with the Finals Week also broadcast live on FreeSports.

Sixth-placed Stresnakova had already confirmed her place at Finals Week and was one set up when she was forced to withdraw, retiring with John-Baptiste one game away from levelling the tie – at 5-1.
John-Baptiste’s place at the Shrewsbury Club was confirmed when Nadia Rawson beat Daley in a tight 5th-6th play-off, coming through 6-4 3-6 10-8.
Emma Wilson will also be making an appearance at Finals Week after she won the 3rd-4th place play-off by beating Holly Hutchinson 6-3 6-2 at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre.
In the women’s rankings, Emily Appleton had already secured top spot which guarantees her the number one seed at the Shrewsbury Club when action gets underway on 8th November.
Also set to feature in less than two weeks’ time are Sonay Kartal, the only player to win three qualifying weeks back-to-back, and Eliz Maloney who finished in second, almost 40 points behind a dominant Appleton.

Sonay Kartal, the only player at the UK Pro League to complete a hat-trick

Julian Cash secured top place in UK Pro League men’s rankings with a dominant victory in the Week 9 final.
Cash defeated Week 1 winner Josh Paris in straight sets, racing to a 6-3 triumph in the first before securing an early break in the second set as he pulled away to win 6-2.
Week 5 runner-up Cash picked up the 18 points he needed as the winner of the final week of qualifying, while Josh Paris moves up into third place as he takes home 15 points.
For Cash, the victory means he will head to the Shrewsbury Club on 8th November as the top-seeded men’s player.

 

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In the men’s draw, Billy Harris will now be the second seed at Finals Week having conceded top spot to Cash.
Meanwhile, Charlie Broom rounds out the nine qualifiers having kept hold of his place with Ewan Moore unable to overtake him, only making the 3rd-4th play-off – and going down in three sets to Dan Little – when he needed overall victory this week.