IC of GB Centenary Week - Day 3 Report

In the ladies’ Mercelis Cup, Ireland defeated South Africa 2-1 to set up a round two clash with fifth seeds Italy, which was played later on Wednesday with Italy coming out on top 2-0. A solid performance from Irish player Julie Byrne in the second singles pushed her opponent all the way before eventually losing narrowly 4-6 3-6.

After her gutsy display, Byrne commented: “It was good. The first set was over an hour and ten minutes - it was just going on serve and she was very very good. I thought it was a really good level and overall pretty happy with my performance. I was just outplayed and best of luck to them.

“It’s been a brilliant week. I think the level has been really high – I think the matches are very competitive but there’s also a lot of respect and everyone is looking out for each other as well. It’s fun competing at a high level, but also to have that social element after the matches as well is great. 

“I’m excited for the party tonight and the opportunity to chat to the other teams. 

“I played in my first IC tournament, I believe when I was 16, but it was back in Ireland. We played against the GB team, and this is my first senior one. It’s really nice to have a mixed team as well – there is a couple of people who I didn’t know before from our team, so it’s been good!

“It’s really cool playing on these grass courts. These opportunities don’t really come round that often, so to be able to play on them is amazing. I haven’t played much on grass before, so to play on the best grass courts in the world is a nice first tournament and a big honour!” 

Following a hard-fought set of matches on the first day of round two, Denmark and USA resumed their fixture at one match apiece on Wednesday. The Danes ultimately proved too strong for third seeds USA in the doubles match, progressing through to a quarter-final clash against hosts Great Britain, who themselves secured their quarter-final berth with a 2-0 win over Bermuda. The home team won in straight sets across both singles matches with Karen Lamb putting in a dominant 6-1 6-1 display and Emily Arbuthnott capturing the win 6-3 6-1. 

New Zealand overcame India 2-1 with victory in the doubles for Julia Sim and Kelly Taylor over Shivika Burman and Radikhar Kanitkar 6-1 6-2. They then faced Luxembourg later in the afternoon coming through 2-0 across both singles to set up a fixture against Australia.

Top seeds France are also through to the quarter-finals having beaten Hong Kong and Switzerland 2-0. Despite the scoreline it was a very close match with the first singles being decided in three sets and a tie break in the first. France will face sixth seeds Spain, who triumphed over South America with a 2-0 win.

In the men’s Windmill Cup, top seeds Spain advanced into the quarter-finals with a convincing 5-1 win over South America, dropping only one set en route to their next fixture against Australia. 

They overcame local rivals New Zealand 5-1 in a closely fought contest over the two days.

After the fixture Joseph Sirianni from Australia said: “It was a great performance by all of us, that’s for sure. To play New Zealand, we could have played that in our back yard basically, we’ve come all this way to play New Zealand! But we had a good day – it was fun. We always have a lot of banter. 

“All our team members played well, they performed – it was a good day. Up next we face top seeds Spain, which will be tough for us. I know a couple of the players, it’s going to be tough, but we’re out here for a bit of fun on Wimbledon’s famous grass courts. We’re looking forward to it.

“I used to play professionally so have played here before. It’s nice to be back and that’s why I put my hand up for this event to show my family as well, so it’s a bit of a holiday. It’s just unbelievable grounds to walk around, so for me it’s great memories and it’s just great to be back. All the teams are so appreciative of this opportunity.

“It’s a great week. I’ve got a two year old so we’re not able to experience as many events as I’d like! Everyone is enjoying themselves, especially my team Australia and I’m sure everyone will have a good time tonight, especially New Zealand!”

Hosts Great Britain secured their quarter-final berth with a compelling 6-0 victory over South Africa. They face the seventh seeds, Czech Republic in the next round.

Charles Durham who played doubles for Great Britain commented: “It was interesting out there today; slightly stressful as I haven’t played for a couple of days. Normally I play an awful lot of tennis all the time and just getting a bit of confidence took a while. Our opponents play together quite a lot – they’re good match players who read the game really well. Myself and Seb have never played together before so we were trying to work out each other’s expectations, which was very interesting. We managed to play well enough to creep over the line. There was some great stuff in there, but there was some very average stuff as well! 

“Seb and I didn’t learn each other’s expectations very quickly I don’t think! We were still getting used to each other at the start of the Champs tiebreak! And we then just went a little bit bigger on everything and to be honest we kept it a little bit more simple. We’d say we were going to do ‘I’ formations and going ‘I go here – you go there; they’re going to do that, we’ll do this.’ And I would say most of those didn’t work! So, we kept it simple, traditional but bigger and better and more oomph. And it did get us over the line!

“I play in the senior nationals and played here in the singles and doubles last year, so I am looking forward to the event in two weeks’ time, which should be really good fun. I really enjoy playing here, it’s lovely – particularly if the weather is nice. It’s unusual playing on grass, but the courts are so good, it’s not far off playing on a hard court in terms of quality in bounce. The bounce is a little bit lower than you’d expect at times near the net, but it’s fantastic and amazing conditions. It’s a beautiful setting; it doesn’t get much better than this when you’re playing tennis with a bunch of other old guys.

“This week has been really nice. Everyone is very friendly – no one is playing for ITF ranking points, we’re just playing for pride. And people take that very seriously of course, and you’re representing your country, so it’s very important.

“The team spirit is fantastic and that is a lovely thing. Tennis is an individual sport; we’re used to fighting individually, so it’s really nice to have a team vibe where everyone is genuinely rooting for your team members.”

A dominant display from the Czech Republic saw them defeat Norway 6-0 to set up the clash against the hosts. 

Denmark beat Slovenia 4-0 and will now face second seeds Italy, who themselves overcame Bermuda on Tuesday, earning themselves a rest day ahead of their quarter-final.

The Netherlands put in a strong performance to overcome Hong Kong and Switzerland 5-1 to set up their next round match against third seeds France.

In the final match of round 2 in the Windmill Cup, France beat Canada 4-0 to complete the quarter-final lineup for tomorrow. 

The full list of results can be found here.