Barnett reaches last eight in Ostrava event
» PAINSWICK’S Lissey Barnett and doubles partner Olivia Nicholls reached the quarter-finals of the Agel Open in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
The pair, Great Britain’s top-ranked women’s doubles players with Barnett at 69 and Nicholls 74, were first round winners, 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 over Spain’s Georgina Garcia Perez and American Ingrid Neel, but fell 6-1, 6-2 to third seeds Alicja Rosolska of Poland and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe.
It was their first WTA 500 tournament, and they won 3,387 euros in prize money, and they also reached the last eight of the WTA 250 event in Tallinn, Estonia.
They lost there to second seeds Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia, 4-6, 7-5, 5-10 after beating Neel and the Netherlands’ Rosalie van der Hoek 6-1, 6-1, picking up 1,450 euros.
In August, Team Bath-based Barnett and Nicholls beat top seeds Vivian Heisen and Katarzyna Kawa to secure the biggest title of their careers at the W100 Grodzisk Mazowiecki.
This marked their seventh trophy together since joining forces for the first time in 2017 and they also won their first WTA title in Granby, Canada, as the duo defeated fellow Brit Harriet Dart and van der Hoek 5-7, 6-3, 10-1 in the final to claim their maiden tour trophy.
Former Stroud High School pupil Barnett, 28, has won 14 doubles titles, and played at Wimbledon and the US Open this season.
Barnett famously beat Jamie Murray and Venus Williams in the mixed doubles to reach the last eight at SW19 with her partner Jonny O’mara having reached the second round of the women’s doubles with Nicholls.