A super Wednesday packed with action at the University of Warwick, featuring all quarterfinal matches and the 9-12th play-off kicking off.
Maia Lumsden, who has been on the side-line for the past 18 months suffering with long Covid, completed one of the best comebacks in the UKPL history, winning 6 straight games in the second set after being one set and 5-1 down.
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“Resilience personified”, as Abigail Johnson described her at the end of the 1hr 45min battle, Lumsden suffered the great ball-striking and precision of Stresnakova for the first 13 games. The Slovak ace had been relentless up to the 5-1 service game in the second set, letting very little past her. The Glaswegian, however, managed to find her form, and raised her game to push the match to the decider. With the 1-6, 7-5, 10-4 win over Stresnakova, Lumsden accessed the semi-finals in the UKPL for the second time, after her very first 2020 appearance at St. George Hill tennis club.
Marni Banks also reached the semi-final stages for the second time in a row by defeating Scarff 6-2, 6-4.
The other two women’s quarterfinal matches went the distance, with Daley having the best over teenager Greatorex 6-1, 2-6, 10-8 and Maloney beating Gillan 5-7, 6-4, 10-4 on Court 1.
On the men’s side, all the favourite players are through the semi-finals, with Cox, Murphy and Recci all winning in straight sets in less than a hour each. The highest ranked player of the week, Billy Harris, had to work slightly harder against Hodkin, who had a perfect start to his quarter final match. The 23-year-old managed to break early on Harris’s serve in the first set and had three set points, but he didn’t manage to convert leaving a big opportunity for Harris to come back and win in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-1.
In the 9-12th play-offs, Hands, Foley, Fernandes and Bagerbaseh got important wins over Doe, Hou, Okoye and Mansfield respectively.
Full Day 4 results
Brandon Murphy bt Sam Reeve 6-2, 6-2
Billy Harris bt Sean Hodkin7-6(4), 6-1
Maia Lumsden bt Katarina Stresnakova 1-6, 7-5, 10-4
Marni Banks bt Eleonor Scarff 6-2, 6-4
Dan Cox bt James MacKinlay 6-0, 6-0
Mason Recci bt Felix Mischker 6-1, 6-2
Eliz Maloney bt Alice Gillan 7-5, 4-6, 10-4
Danielle Daley bt Adeola Greatorex 6-1, 2-6, 10-8
Tom Hands bt Matt Doe 6-4, 6-1
Patrick Foley bt Ying Hou 6(2)-7, 6-3, 10-7
Jizel Fernandes bt Jada Okoye 6-0, 6-2
Kapari Bagerbaseh bt Kate Mansfield 6-2, 6-3