University of Bath sporting scholar Emma Hurst helped Great Britain win a bronze medal at the Master’U BNP Paribas tennis tournament in France.
Barry Scollo, Director of Tennis at Team Bath, was part of the British coaching team for the annual event which sees the world’s top eight university tennis nations battle it out over three days.
An exciting start saw Britain edge out host nation France 4-3 in the quarter-finals thanks to a 10-7 tie-break win for Olivia Nicholls and Jonny Binding in the decisive mixed doubles match.
Britain found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline in the semi-finals against Russia, the contest again going to the final rubber, but they bounced back brilliantly to defeat Germany 4-1 in the bronze-medal match.
Sport & Exercise Science student Hurst, supported by a Trendell Sports Scholarship and the Team Bath Dual Career programme, lost her singles matches against France and Russia but got Britain off to a great start against Germany by beating Julia Thiem 6-2 7-6(5) in the opening rubber.
Hurst – making her second appearance at the tournament following her debut in 2015 – then helped to wrap up overall victory and the bronze medal when she teamed up with Alicia Barnett to beat Jil Engelmann and Malin Cabukcu 3-6 6-4 10-5 in the women’s doubles.
Bronze matches Britain’s best-ever result in the university tournament. Gold went to the United States.
Photo above shows Emma Hurst (fourth from left) and Barry Scollo (right) of Team Bath Tennis celebrating with their Great Britain colleagues after winning bronze at the 2016 Master’U BNP Paribas tournament.
Report courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight
