Tournament No.2 seed Jade Curtis has reached the second round of the Caversham International AEGON Pro-Series women’s singles in Jersey, after defeating Kristina Steiert (GER).
The British No.8 from Cornwall was leading 6-2, 2-3 before her opponent retired and Curtis said afterwards: “I felt I was on top of my game and was feeling very comfortable after winning the first set and whilst she had to retire I felt could have taken the honours if the match had continued.”
Curtis will now meet fellow Briton Michaela Ince in the second round after she won her all-British clash with Amanda Elliott, 6-2, 6-4.
There were also wins for both Jessica and Jennifer Ren with Jennifer making a comfortable start in the opening round, winning 6-2, 6-4 against Morgane Pons (FRA) whilst her sister Jessica defeated fellow Britain Nicola George, 6-3, 6-0.
“We were very pleased to get through the first round and very much looking forward to the next round where we are both keen to win because in the next round we will end up playing each other” the sisters enthused.
In order for the pair to meet in the quarter-finals, Jessica must defeat qualifier Veronika Kolarova (CZE) whilst Jennifer faces a tricky tie against tournament No.3 seed Kinnie Laisne (FRA), who is ranked 566 places higher than her in the rankings.
There was also success for Elizabeth Thomas who made the second round with victory over qualifier Josanne Van Bennekom, 6-4, 6-1 and now faces a stern test against No.1 seed Stephanie Vongsouthi (FRA).
Meanwhile in the $42.5k men’s singles event, Dan Smethurst scored an impressive two set win against an opponent ranked 245 places higher than him in the World rankings. The Briton defeated Dusan Lojda (CZE), 7-6, 6-2 to secure his passage into the next round.
“I thoroughly enjoyed that and was pleased to get such a scalp. I have had a good year and I am playing very well at the moment so very much looking forward to my next game against Uladzimir Ignatik (BLR)” said Smethurst afterwards.
Colin Fleming lost in his opening round match in Jersey despite a fantastic start in which he dominated the opening set against opponent Frederik Nielsen (DEN). After winning the first set 6-0, Fleming was unable to prevent his opponent fighting back to take the match 0-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Fleming and partner Ken Skupski were unable to continue the recent form that has seen them move closer to a top 50 ranking, as they bowed out of the men’s doubles event in the opening round.
The British pair were defeated 4-6, 6-7(4) by the Finish pairing of Henri Kontinen and Jarkko Nieminen.
Elsewhere in the doubles event, Josh Goodall and partner Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (CAN) are through to the semi-finals after receiving a walk-over against tournament No.3 seeds Jonathan Marray and George Bastil (SUI).
Neil Pauffley and Alexander Ward won 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 against fellow Britons Dan Evans and Josh Milton, whilst Smethurst and Marcus Willis won 6-2, 6-2 against Tobias Kamke (GER) and Lojda and now meet the German pairing of Florian Mayer and Tobias Summerer in the quarter-finals today.
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