Day 3 at HSBC Road to Wimbledon reaches the knock-out stages
The players have officially reached the half way point of the national finals at The All England Club and the quarter-finalists have been decided. Day 3 always gives the title contenders a thorough examination of their credentials with three outings on the courts that include two rounds of singles followed by one match of doubles later in the afternoon.
Players still going strong at the 10th HSBC Road to Wimbledon championships at The All England Club will no doubt be sleeping soundly before they return for their fourth day of action.
Today it was evident that all the players had really improved their games, and no better place to do that than here.
Out of 128 players entered into the draws 32 remain in the main and consolation draws the rest of the field are heading home with fond memories to treasure forever. To them we bid a fond farewell.
So as we approach the business end of tournament the top seeds continue to dominate, while a few dark horses are playing themselves into form thriving on the grass and ready to cause an upset.
The best of the boy’s were pushed hard by strong opposition meanwhile the girls continued to dominate the field with comfortable victories.
The rain entered the fray to halt some of the doubles matches just after 6pm and they will be concluded tomorrow with all remaining doubles matches starting from 1.30pm.
Both top seeds in the boy’s and girls’ main draws originate from Berkshire, and a Queenswood school girl, the third seed, is also a Berkshire junior and a favourite for the title. They are all looking to become the first singles champion from their County to be crowned champion.
George Hedley, 14, training at Maidenhead Satellite Performance club after his opening round win said, “It’s fantastic here at Wimbledon, the grass is beautiful to play on. In my first match my opponent played really well but I managed to win it 6-4. I decided to go for my shots with more power in the second set and come from 0-1 down to win the match taking six games in a row to win 6-4, 6-1.”
Hannah Brett,14, the top seed from Win Tennis Academy gave us her thoughts “Playing at Wimbledon is nervous and exciting at the same time. Today I was on Championship court 18, I found I was playing really well today as I went 4-1 up early on but my opponent who is very consistent got it back on serve at 4-3. Then I played a bit more aggressively and managed to win the next eight games in a row.”
Chloe Lant,14, Queenswood school girl and Gosling Academy player said, “I’m so pleased to be playing at Wimbledon. My first ever match was court 17 next to Centre Court. I wasn’t nervous because I was enjoying it so much. Today I won my main draw match 6-0, 6-0. It was a little bit damp out there this morning I remember during one point in the first set I fell mid-rally, got back up, continued the rally then slipped again!”
At the close of play our highly regarded referees Denise Parnell and Peter Finn had so far orchestrated a phenomenal 321 matches since Monday.
