Thirteen-year-old Chloe De La Mare from Guernsey became the youngest ever winner of an LTA Grade Two padel tournament as she partnered 14-year-old Rosie Quirk to an astonishing victory last weekend in Bristol.
Chloe and Rosie (pictured above) beat several high-profile names en route to the Ladies’ Open title at Surge Padel, including GB veterans player Karen Hazzard and Eloise Tait, who trains with the GB women’s squad – but what made their win even more incredible was that they had never previously met each other!
Rosie and Chloe had been put together by coach Dan Troy (long-time coach of GB No.3 Aimee Gibson) who has been helping them both separately with their progression in the sport.
The two teenagers met on Friday afternoon and had a brief hit before heading out to get to know each other over a pizza. Their partnership gelled immediately, and from the outset it they looked like they had been playing together for years.
Awarded a walkover in the first round, they faced the number two seeds, Karen Hazzard and Lucie Wade. Against extremely tough opposition, they played well but lost the first set 4-6. But they settled quickly and turned things around, taking the second set 6-1 and closing out the match convincingly in a Champions tiebreak, 10-6.
In the semi-finals they faced third seeds Ellie Tait and Rachel Heath-Porsz, claiming the first set 6-2, before winning a tighter second set in a tie-break 7-6 (5).
To the astonishment of all spectators, the two teenagers had made it through to the final where they were to face Guernsey’s Lauren Barker and Lauren Watson-Steele, who have been largely unchallenged in domestic competition on their home island.
Chloe and Rosie never looked like losing as they put every ball back in play, forcing the Laurens into long rallies. They took the first set 6-2 and then raced to a 5-0 lead in the second before closing it out 6-2.
Chloe becomes the youngest ever winner of a Grade 2 level event and the victory cements her position as the number one ranked junior girl in the UK. It will see her rise even higher in the senior rankings where she is already inside the top 50.
Chloe said: “I’m just so happy with the way we played today. It was the first time Rosie and I have played together and we had so much fun. We never expected to do so well so soon into our partnership, and so to win the tournament is just so exciting.”
In the men’s event, another Guernseyman, Olly Cull, and his partner Ethan Bardo, had a strong tournament, losing to top seeds Jake Bewley and Cameron Dollimore in the final 6-3, 6-2.
Also in the men’s open event, Chloe’s older brother Liam (15) and her father Matt reached the quarter-final stages where they lost a tight battle to George Weller and Simon Garforth-Bles (ranked 9 and 18 in the LTA rankings respectively), 7-6, 5-7, 2-10. The performance will see Liam rise to No.2 in the UK boys’ rankings (U18) and cement his place in the top 100 in the men’s game.
