UEL see plenty of success at qualifying in High Wycombe

A five-strong University of East London contigent will go forward to the BUCS Individual Finals in Loughborough later this month after winning through from qualifying in High Wycombe.

In the men’s event, number one seed Lewis Thompson came through a scare in the second round with a three-set victory, to find himself against team-mate Michael Elortgui, in the last round.

For a third succesive year UEL captain Thompson secured his spot in the main draw with a win over Elortgui.

Number two seed James Ledger had a comfortable time in qualifying, dropping a total of five games in his three qualifying matches.

The last round looked to be another routine performance for him, winning the first set 6-0, but he made life difficult for himself as he let his opponent settle into the match and find himself some rhythm before the UEL student wrapped up a straight sets win.

Patrick Eichler, UEL’s only unbeaten player throughout the league season, made hard work of his draw, with an easy-looking pathway into the main draw.

Eichler was a break down at 5-4 in his second match, but pulled through and in the next round, was in another scrappy encounter in the last round before prevailing 6-3 6-4.

The last spot went to Jared Linzell who struggled in his final match, where he was taking into a deciding set before his class finally told.

In the woman’s draw, number one seed Winde Jansens, who received a walkover into the final round, faced team-mate Brielle Koulen.

Jansens seemed in control from the start, taking the first set 6-1 in quick fashion, and though Koulen fought back in the second, it was not enough to stop the number one seed winning in straight sets.

Number four seed Aleks Mitrovska had the hard task of sending two team-mates out of the competition by beating Marie Prulhiere and Millie Severino in the second and last rounds respectively.

Ava Peruhova had the chance to make it a complete sweep for UEL across men’s and women’s draws, but fell one win short as she crashed out in the final round of qualifying.

UEL’s five players will compete in the National finals from March 30 - April 2 at the Dan Maskell Centre in Loughborough.

For more information about the UEL Tennis programme visit www.uel.ac.uk/sport.