Escoffier and Samavati triumph in Uni ITF finals
FRANCE’S number two seed Antoine Escoffier and Denmark qualifer Sofia Nami Samavati triumphed at the M25 and W25 ITF World Tennis Tour events held at Loughborough University last week.
In the men’s singles draw, with seven of eight places in the quarter finals occupied by Brits, the final was contested by the tournament’s top ranked players: top seed Ryan Peniston (Essex) and No.2 seed Antoine Escoffier (France).
The underdog took the first set, before Peniston battled back to take the second set but couldn’t hold off Escoffier in the decider as the Frenchman claimed the title 6-4 3-6 6-3.
No.7 seeded Brit Sarah Beth Grey was the only Brit to make the quarter final stage of the women’s singles. Grey (Lancashire) came up against the top seeded Mariam Bolkvade from Georgia in the last eight where Bolkvade won a titanic struggle 6-4 4-6 7-6(2) lasting 3 hours 31 minutes to reach the last four.
Sunday’s women’s singles final saw Bolkvadze play 21 year-old qualifier Sofia Nami Samavati from Denmark, with the Georgian forced to retire trailing 6-2 5-5. It was Samavati’s third singles title in the last five months and first at W25 level.
In the women’s doubles, fourth seeds Emily Appleton (Surrey) and Ali Collins (North Scotland) reached the final but lost out to Anna Gabric/ Gabriela Vasilescu 6-4 7-5.
There were three Brits featured in the men’s doubles final, with Julian Cash (Sussex) emerging victorious with his German partner Lucas Gerch over British pair Anton Matusevich (Kent) and Joshua Paris (Middlesex) 6-4 6-3.
LTA tournament director Richard Joyner reflected on a successful event: “We had a great week of tennis at Loughborough culminating in two very high-quality singles finals. We were delighted to return to staging these events in Britain after nearly two years of Covid disruptions.”