Congratulations to Stiga player Tin-Tin Ho who won the Women’s Singles Senior Nationals for the 4th time this weekend in Nottingham.+
Tin Tin uses Stiga’s new DNA M rubber on a Stag Ebonholz blade. Rest of information on the ETTA website.
See below for more details on the weekends event.
Women’s Singles Results
Tin-Tin Ho won her fourth women’s singles title as she beat surprise finalist Mari Baldwin 4-0.
Ho got off to the best possible start, racing to the first set, 11-4. Baldwin’s disruptive backhand didn’t faze Ho at all, using all her experience and quality.
The second set was a closer affair, with 15-year-old Baldwin starting to grow in confidence. However, Ho came on strong at the end of the set to take it 11-7.
Mari Baldwin
At the start of the third set, Ho showed no mercy as she hit winner after winner. Baldwin did mount a mini comeback but it was too little too late with the score 11-6 and a repeat of that scoreline in the fourth meant Ho had regained the title she lost last year to Maria Tsaptsinos – who had to withdraw from the tournament last week because of injury.
Ho said: “I’m really happy to win the title, every title means a lot. Although the competition was a bit different this year, I always stayed focused. Mari caused a few upsets and her style is quite different, but I was comfortable against it.
“I wanted to get the title back really badly. It was a shame Maria was injured but I was ready to play whoever happened to get through.”
Baldwin, who knocked out second seed Denise Payet in yesterday’s quarter-finals, said: “It was brilliant. To get this far in my first competition is quite great in itself so I was quite happy to get here, to be honest.
“I wasn’t expected to get this far. Maybe one day I will get the gold.”
Ho secured her place in the final with a confident 4-2 win over fourth seed Mollie Patterson. It was a tight opening to the match with both players appearing nervous and making several mistakes. However, at the business end of the first set, Patterson saved a set point at 10-9 and went on to take it 12-10.
Ho stepped up at the start of the second, taking a 7-0 lead and winning the set 11-4. It was a similar story in the third with Patterson making two service faults on her way to losing it 11-4.
However, the 17-year-old had a glimmer of hope in the fourth, going 9-6 up before taking the set 11-9 and levelling the match at 2-2.
From here, Ho showed why she is the No 1 seed with her quality and speed too much for Patterson. She won the next two sets 11-2 in a clinical performance.
Patterson said: “I’m very pleased to have made Finals Day for the first time. Coming back after losing the next two showed how tough I can be mentally. I had to reset multiple times and keep fighting for every point and put her under pressure as much as possible.
“I’ve learned so much from this competition and I’m going to use it and put it into practice with my coaches at Grantham College and try to push on and come back for revenge next year.”
Baldwin’s sensational run continued as she beat third seed Emily Bolton 4-2 to meet Ho in the final. The 15-year-old’s disruptive backhand caused problems for the whole match, with Bolton not being allowed to settle. The first set was extremely tight, with Baldwin saving two set points to take it on her second, 14-12. The second set saw Bolton continue to struggle with Baldwin’s backhand, losing it 11-8.
There was very little between them in the third with Baldwin pegging Bolton back to take it 11-8. The third seed started to find her form in the fourth set, winning it 11-7. In the fifth set, Baldwin had four match points, but Bolton stood firm, winning 13-11. The sixth set was clinical from Baldwin, with the 15-year-old winning 11-6 to book her place in the final.
After the match, Bolton said: “It’s the first time I’ve reached the semi-finals, so it’s better than last year, but I’m still very disappointed. I got a bad start, so it was always going to be difficult – but credit to Mari, she came out and was fearless.
“She’s the Cadet national champion, so she’s a good player and it’s a completely different style to anyone in England and we don’t play against it much. There’s no rhythm, you are constantly having to work things out point by point – but I think it’s nice to have that style because it gives us something else to play against.
“I’ll watch the videos back and watch the sets I won and the sets I lost and hopefully learn and come back better next year.”
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