Days prior to competing for Great Britain in World Cup qualifying, GB no.2 Catherine Rose lifted the sixth FIP title of her career.
Now no.93 in the world, Rose and partner Rebeca Lopez dropped only one set on their way to victory at the FIP Bronze QNB Cup Izmir in Turkey.
Having brushed off the first set loss in the semi-final, Rose and Lopez battled on to win it 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, saving match points on the way to setting up a final meeting with top seeds Ana Faros Ramos and Marcella Kopek.
The British-Spanish pairing saw off their biggest competition in style, winning the final 6-4, 6-1 to scoop the title.
On the performance, Catherine tells The Padel Paper: “I believe it’s my third title of the year, it’s been a tough few weeks in terms of results, not sort of getting the results I’ve wanted to be getting, so, yeah, it feels really good to come through that and to have won the tournament.
“The semi-final was a battle, we saved match points and were pretty close to losing that, we had to dig really deep and really come together as a team to win that. I’m proud of how we managed to turn it around because we were pretty down and out the whole way until the third set so really pleased with how we turned it around.
“Beating a pair like the number one seeds in the final so comfortably, by that point we’d gained a lot of confidence from the semi-final. To come through a match where we felt it wasn’t going our way, it probably benefitted us, we learned a lot from that match and it probably did more for our confidence having to come through a match like that, so we went into the final feeling really good and really together as a team.
“We played really well and it was one of the better matches we’ve had together as a pair so far, so really happy with that and nice bit of confidence and bit of rhythm to go into the week for the qualifiers.”
Indeed, FIP World Cup qualifying for European nations including GB kicks off on Tuesday in Madrid, and Catherine is one of the leading names, alongside good friend and GB no.1 Aimee Gibson, who’s also in form after a victory and a final on the FIP tour in the last two weeks.
Catherine added: “I actually have no idea what the pairings will be yet, whether I’ll play with Aimee or we’ll mix it up, but it’s super important to go into a week like this feeling 100 per cent confident. I think if I’d gone in losing in another semi-final I’d have been pretty low.
“It just gives that extra pep in your step and it’s a tiring week, and a win always gives you that boost of energy and motivation. So going in with that behind you, it definitely helps from the mental side.”
