Golden Weekend For Scottish Tennis Stars Across The Globe

Whilst Scotland’s rugby team and supporters recovered from the rollercoaster of emotions experienced during the last gasp loss to rivals Wales in the Six Nations, Scottish tennis stars at all levels were again showcasing their talent across the globe and in the process bringing home a stash of silverware.

On the international front, Elena Baltacha is at a career high world number 70 after winning the Dow Corning Classic Challenger tournament in Midland, Michigan with a 5-7 6-2 6-3 win over top seed Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic).

Jamie Murray meanwhile celebrated his 24th birthday with his second title of the year as he and England's Jonny Marray edged Slovakia's Karol Beck and Czech Jiri Kroska 6-1 6-7 10-8 to lift the Bergamo Challenger title in Italy.

At the AEGON Winter Grand Prix Masters 14 and under girls’ final, Alice Keddie won 6-3 7-6(3) over Harriet Dart in a close encounter.  Both players exchanged a number of breaks of serve at the beginning of the match before Keddie won back to back games to take the opening set.  Dart came back firing in the second set to take a 4-1 lead before Keddie recovered to take the set into a tie-break, securing the title on her second match point.

“I am really pleased, especially as I was able to play my game on court today.  It was quite patchy but when I played well I played really well and I played to my strengths” commented Keddie afterwards.

Closer to home, the Scottish Indoor Junior Championships for 12 and under and 16 and under players were held at Scotstoun Leisure Centre in Glasgow.

Top seed and local player, James Shemilt of the David Lloyd Academy in Glasgow (West End), took the honours in the boys’ 12 and under event, whilst unseeded Northern Irish player Laura Reid defeated Scotland’s Sophie Dodds, the number one seed in the girls’ 12 and under final, 7-5 6-2.

In the 16 and under boys’ event, a match tie-break was required to separate the top two seeds, Andrew Quirk (Bearsden LTC) and Adam Stevenson (Prestwick).  Second seed Stevenson just shaded it 2-6 7-5 1-0 (4) in a hard fought match.

St Andrews 15 year old, Morven McCulloch, justified her number one seeding, retaining her girls 16 and under title.  In a textbook weekend’s tennis the player from the Tennis Academy at St George’s School in Edinburgh dropped just five games in four matches.

“It was pretty comfortable, I played well which helped and in each match won one set to love, so I was pleased with the result,” she said after a weekend in which she beat players from Scotland, England and Ireland.

Results from the Scottish Indoor Junior Championships – 12 and under / 16 and under can be found to the right of this article.