By RJ Mitchell
TIA NORTON has hailed her victory in the final of the FIP Rise London Padel Open today as: “just the beginning.”
The GB No.1 women’s player and Spanish partner Carla Fito Fernandez came back from the dead in their semi-final against No.4 seeds Wendy Barsotti and Elodie Invernon after saving four match points in the third set at 5-6 on Norton’s serve to win a deciding tie-break 7-4 after a gruelling two-hour encounter.
Yet if fatigue fears were prevalent after such a draining clash Norton and Fernandez, who were seeded No.2, showed none and duly brushed aside top ranked Maaike Betz and Natalia Sanz Garcia in the final in just on the hour mark.
Not surprisingly Norton was delighted by her triumph in the first ever fully professional tournament played in the UK and the new FIP Rise London Padel Open ladies champion said: “This is only the beginning of what I hope will be a long journey and I am just delighted to win the first ever professional tournament on home soil at the NTC.
“Myself and my partner Carla came into this tournament with no expectations and we just took each match as it came and that served us very well especially in the semi-final which was a really tough three-set match.
“Particularly having to save two match points at 15-40 on my serve at 5-6 in the semi was a huge moment but then to make the final and be able to back it up with a really solid performance is something we are both proud of.
“It is a special moment and what I hope is only going to be the beginning of what will be a long journey.”
Norton was also keen to thank the LTA for putting on a superb tournament and she said: “The National Tennis Centre has been a superb venue and I’d just like to thank the LTA for putting on a great tournament and for me to come up with the win here at the very first one to be held on home courts is something I will always remember.”
There was disappointment however for Hansie Ruddick and partner Ivet Val Lopez after they lost out 6-3, 7-5 in their last four clash with top seeds Maaike Betz and Natalia Sanz Garcia.
Ruddick’s cause was not helped by badly blistered feet that needed medical treatment last night after her quarter-final victory and but the GB international bravely refused to use that as an excuse and she said: “No I can’t use the blisters as an excuse the problem was that when we had our moments and opportunities I was tight. For some reason I felt tense from the start of the semi-final and my arm just did not loosen off and that is really disappointing.
“Overall it has been a very positive experience and to have played my first tournament in England at the NTC is something I will always remember and the other thing was that it was an exceptionally well-run tournament by the LTA and very well attended.
“But this was an opportunity to make the final and I just didn’t produce when I needed to and that makes it a bitter sweet experience over all. Now I must just focus on recovering from the blisters and hopefully I will be back on court soon.”
GB men’s No.1 Christian Medina Murphy also saw his title ambitions thwarted at the semi-final stage after he and partner Javi Navarro suffered a disappointing 6-2, 6-3 defeat at the hands of Bram Meijers and Sten Richters.
Clearly frustrated at what might have been Murphy groaned: “We just weren’t good enough on the day and the other pair played a perfect match. When they had chances they took them and when we had chances we did not take them.
“Especially in the second set when we were up 3-2 we had opportunity to build a break but that slipped away and we just could not take the momentum from them.
“Overall the tournament has been a positive one for us and having to win two very tough three-set matches in the second round and quarters was a big positive but when you make a semi-final it is a real opportunity and it is frustrating we did not do ourselves justice today.
“Now I will take a week to rest up and recover and then it will be time to prepare for the FIP Platinum tournament in Italy in two weeks.
“But I really enjoyed playing the London Open with Javi (Navarro) it was a very well-run tournament by the LTA and congratulations to them on that.”
Ultimately the men’s final proved a case of going Dutch with the unseeded Bram Meijer and Sten Richters defeating No.5 seeds Bastien Blanque and Jose Casas 7-6 , 6-3. More on that in due course once we have full match details.
