Sunday night at the Marcq-en-Baroeul in Lille, England defeated six-time defending champion United States to take home the 12th edition of Master’U BNP Paribas, a world university tennis event. After 6 matches and more than eleven hours of championship tennis, England pulled out its first win in tournament history with a 4-2 victory in the final.
In the final match, the British doubles team of Jonathon O’Mara and Jack Findel Hawkins took on the American duo of Martin Redlicki and Brandon Holt.
It was in the ninth game with the championships in balance that the British were able to break the serve of Redlicki. O’Mara finished off the set with a forehand at the end of the net.
While the Americans tried to rally in the second set, the British kept pushing the pace. In a boiling atmosphere, supported by the other nations already eliminated, the Brits won to wild applause as their teammates joined them on centre court to celebrate.
They winning team even received the blessing of American coach Greg Patton. “The British were incredible,” he said. “They served much better than us, and were more relaxed at the return. They were too strong, brilliant in all areas.”
The Master’U BNP Paribas formula, a sort of Fed Cup meets Davis Cup
Created in 2006 by the French Federation of University Sports and the French Tennis Federation, in partnership with BNP Paribas “partner of all tennis”, the Master’U BNP Paribas aims to become a premiere event in the global tennis world.
The original tennis event formula is a sort of mix between Fed Cup and Davis Cup, which brings together three male and female players within one same team for a seven game clash: two male singles, two female singles, one female doubles, one men’s doubles and one mixed doubles, as a decisive match in the event of a tie after the first six matches.
In the end, the victors are elated
“This is the best moment of my career,” said Jonathon O’Mara, who also won his singles match 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 over the American Holt. “What emotion, it’s incredible. After the ladies doubles I thought the Americans would come back. But with Jack, we gave ourselves energy throughout the match. Now we bring the cup home and we can be proud of it.”
The English coach Allierait Higham savored the win as well. “I am a really happy man today. We love this event, so winning it is great. After the simple, we thought we had more than one double to win. After we lost the ladies double, we reset everything; we re-motivated the team, and we won. “
On the American side, the disappointment is palpable. “The English played a little too well for us,” said Redlicki. “Congratulations to them, they deserve it. We lost, but we gave everything on the court. We fought on all points.” For the United States, fighting was not enough: 2017 was the year of Britain.
Final classification of the 12th edition of the Master’U BNP Paribas tournament
-
England
-
United States
-
Germany
-
China
-
France
-
Ireland
-
Belgium
-
Russia
Related News
Tennis a ticket to Harvard for Swiss champion
