British victory in opening final of Pro-Series Bath tennis
16th March 2013
There was British success in the first final of the Aegon GB Pro-Series Bath competition, with Lewis Burton and Dan Evans taking the men’s doubles title at the Sports Training Village this afternoon (Friday).
The British pair beat Jan Minar of the Czech Republic and Marek Semjan of Slovakia on a champions’ tie break in the final.
Minar and Semjan had edged the opening set at the University of Bath by 7-5, before the British duo dominated the second set 6-1 to level up.
Burton and Evans, who were seeded four for the competition, then took the champions’ tie break 10-5 against their unseeded opponents.
Evans returns to action for his second final in as many days tomorrow (Saturday).This time it’s the men’s singles final and his opponent is the in-form Ed Corrie.
Evans, who is seeded four, needed three sets to overcome fellow Brit David Rice 6-3 4-6 6-4 this morning. The in-form Corrie, number five seed, beat compatriot Tom Farquharson 6-3 6-1 to set up an all-British final on Saturday (16 March).
And there is local interest in the women’s doubles final with Team Bath MCTA Tennis Academy player Lisa Whybourn and her German partner Nicola Geuer facing Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland and Germany’s Julia Kimmelmann.
Whybourn and Geuer had to battle back from a set down after losing the opening set against Marina Melnikov (RUS) and Sviatlana Pirazhenka (BLR) on a tie break. They went on to win 6-7 (3) 6-4 (11-9) to progress to the final.
Saturday’s action gets underway at 10.30am with the women’s singles semi-finals – the final follows on Sunday morning.
The men’s singles final between Corrie and Evans follows on Saturday – it won’t start before midday.
The women’s doubles final concludes the play on Saturday – the earliest it will start is 1pm, but that depends on the length of the earlier matches.