GB no.3 Tia Norton was the pick of the Brits at the FIP Bronze HOP London Padel Open last weekend while GB no.1 Aimee Gibson reached another Tour final in the Philippines.
In front of a supportive home crowd at The Padel Hub Whetstone in north London at the second of four FIP Tour events in the UK this year, Tia and Dutch partner Stephanie Weterings, the sixth seeds, were defeated by French pairing Jessica Barbier and Carla Touly in the semi-finals 6-2 7-5.
Jessica and Carla (pictured below) went on to win the final against Italian duo Giulia Sussarello and Emily Stellato 6-3 7-5.
Amongst a plethora of other Brits in the women’s draw, perhaps most notable were Rosie Quirk and Chloe de la Mare, two of Britain’s most promising juniors who have reached no.2 and 3 on the LTA padel rankings off the back of some highly impressive recent domestic results.
Playing in their first ever FIP Tour event, the teenage duo beat fellow Brits Amy Cairns and Alice Keddie in three sets in the first round before going down to Italians Elsa Terranova and Giorgia Rosi.
Louie Harris and Alexander Loughlan progressed furthest among the Brits in the men’s draw with a run to the quarter-finals, where they went down 7-6 6-4 to Spanish second seeds and eventual runners-up Adrian Berdonce and Miguel Gonzalez.
Sam Jones & Tom Farqhuarson and Chris Salisbury & Alfonos Potacho both lost in two closely-contested sets in the round of 16, while one of Britain’s top juniors, Stan Hunt, playing in only his second FIP Tour event, went down to Sam and Tom in the first round alongside South African Christopher Stanford.
Marcos Gonzalez Blanco and Jaume Romera Bercolo (pictured above) won the final against Adrian and Miguel with a score of 6-3 6-4 and are now ranked world number 228 and 116.
Elsewhere last weekend, GB no.1 Aimee Gibson reached the final of the FIP Silver Reap Manila in the Philippines alongside Caterina Baldi of Italy in their second tournament as a pair.
After a superb semi-final victory over Ana Varo Romas and Alba Perez Momha (world no.66 and 67 respectively), Aimee and Caterina faced top seeds Patricia Martinez Fortun and Letizia Maria Manquillo Alarza in the final and were defeated 6-2 6-3. Aimee had won the title in Manila last November alongside Victoria Nicholas.
The result boosts Aimee’s world ranking to a career-high 96 and she will look to add more ranking points this week at FIP Silver Fastweb Perugia in her playing partner’s native Italy.
Meanwhile, Lisa Phillips continued her ascent with a semi-final appearance at FIP Bronze Kazakhstan. Playing with Lucia Dionisio Laureano, the GB no.4 lost 7-6 1-6 6-4 in a tight affair against second seeds Ainize Santamaria Landa and Angelina Neizvestnaya from Spain.
