GB women beat Russia in World Team Cup European Qualification battle
Great Britain’s women’s wheelchair tennis team demonstrated immense resilience to seal a 2-1 victory over Russia after a late-night deciding doubles match on Sunday at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup European Qualification in Vilamoura, Portugal.
Great Britain will now contest the women’s event at the 2018 World Team Cup finals in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, due to take place from 28 May to 3 June.
The Great Britain team of Lucy Shuker, Louise Hunt and Lauren Jones, captained by the Tennis Foundation’s Performance Development Coach Ash Smith, didn’t drop a single set during the course of nine matches in three round-robin ties against Austria, Sweden and Belgium en route to Sunday’s final contest against Russia, which began several hours later than planned due to heavy rain.
Unlike Great Britain’s previous three ties, the rain delay meant that British No.1 Lucy Shuker and British No.2 Louise Hunt played their two singles matches against Russia’s Viktoriia Lvova and Ludmila Bubnova simultaneously at the Davis and Fed Cup-style event. World No.8 Shuker beat Lvova 6-3, 6-1, but Hunt’s only loss of the week saw Bubnova take the other singles contest 7-5, 6-3.
That meant the European Qualification spot would be decided in the winner-takes-all doubles match and shortly after midnight Hunt and Shuker wrapped up a memorable 7-5, 6-1 victory over the Russian duo of Lvova and Polina Shakirova.
Lucy Shuker said:
“It’s been a long day, obviously the weather’s not been great, but we’re happy that we managed to come through. I had a good singles earlier and I think Louise and I doubled up really well."
Louise Hunt said:
"There were a lot of emotions (today) and I agree with Lucy, I think we played a fantastic match together and I’m just super happy that we got the result. We came here to win and that’s what we’ve done.”
Lauren Jones added:
“It’s always an honour to represent your country, I haven’t been the first selected, being the newest member of the team and the lowest ranked. So for me it has been about getting the job done and performing well when given the chance, which is what I have done, and making sure I can do everything in my power to support the girls when they have played to help them perform to their best ability."
The full Great Britain squad for the 2018 BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Apeldoorn, to be selected and managed by the Tennis Foundation, Great Britain’s leading tennis charity, will be announced in due course.
