(Image Creds: Oliver Ashby)
Balls flying, hair bows equipped, and great sportsmanship, the women’s 1st doubles match was fantastic to watch. With three games going at once, this article will cover the first court that was playing.
As a tennis novice myself, I was so impressed with these girls’ skills. With most of the players debuting for the first time at Roses, they didn’t let the pressure affect their game.
York Players
Kianna Mokhtari
Ella Hassall – Roses Debut
Lancaster Players
Holly Stevens – Roses Debut (Best server)
Felicity Birt – Roses Debut
The satisfying sound of the balls echoed across the court, and the massive support from both Lancaster and York fans exploded from the sidelines.
This game format was best of 3 sets, so the first to 6 points in each game won the set, needing to win 2 sets minimum to win the match.
Ella Hassall (York), and both Lancaster players, Holly Stevens and Felicity Birt, are new to the Roses competition this year, but you wouldn’t have guessed it with how composed and collected they all were.
The maturity on the court was unbelievable, with this competition usually causing another war of the Roses between teams; these doubles did not have a bad word to say about each other and showed fantastic sportsmanship.
Historically, York has the dominant advantage for women’s double tennis, having won the past 4 years at Roses, and are hoping to keep the title; they did not disappoint their team this match.
Both Lancaster and York teams were warming up for an hour before the match in the cold morning weather, practicing their skills and hoping to bring their A Games to the day.
The vibes were high because, despite losing advantages during the games, both teams high-fived their partners for the fantastic volleying they were doing, and kept their team spirits high.
With the weather the night before being wet and grey, the tennis courts suffered the force, with the courts still being quite damp at 10 am, the players had to adjust to a slippier court than what they expected. Unfortunately, Ella Hassall faced the worst of it as she slipped early on into the first set. She didn’t let it get her down as she got straight back up and played a fantastic match for the remainder of the game.
Lancaster opened the first set of the match and won the game, making it 1 – 0. At the start of the second game, Lancaster hit the net with their opening serve, helping York win the second game, making it 1 all. The pressure to get the lead in the first set was high for the York players as Kianna struggled to start the game and hit her serves straight into the net back-to-back. But this did not affect her confidence as York won the game, making it 2 -1 as York snatched the lead from Lancaster. By the 4th game, York’s confidence was growing with more and more supporters joining the viewing bank, cheering them on, leading them to win. Making it 3 – 1 by the fourth game. The camaraderie was high in this women’s double tennis match. In game 5, Kianna accidentally hits Holly Stevens with the ball and apologises multiple times, showcasing York’s great sportsmanship. Game 5 was won again by York as they leap further away from Lancaster at 4 – 1. During game 6, Lancaster found their footing after spotting the weaknesses of the York players. Ella Hassall, being left-handed she, missed a great shot from one of the Lancaster girls to her right side, giving Lancaster a win 4 – 2. Lancaster kept their winning streak by winning game 7 and closing the gap between York 4 – 3. But the York girls weren’t having that for long and won the 8th game, keeping their lead 5 – 3. Game 9 was phenomenal; the pressure was high for the York girls to secure the set and for the Lancaster girls to catch back up, but ultimately the York doubles secured the lead 6 – 3 and won the first set.
After a well-needed break, the girls came back to the courts to start the second set, and the York girls came back fired up and hungry to win. They won 6 games back to back, making the second set 6 – 0 to York, and left Lancaster in the dust. Holly Stevens played a fantastic dropshot against York, winning them points in the game. But that wasn’t enough for Lancaster to secure a win, as with 2 out of 3 sets won, York took the win of the match.
In a post-match interview, Ella Hassall said, ‘It was fun, I enjoyed it, took a bit to get into it’ commenting on how she thought the match went. It was clear she struggled for the first half of the first set, but she found her footing after her tumble and came back fighting, and I award her Vision’s Player for Women’s Tennis.
In Kianna’s post-match interview, she was ecstatic and breathless after such hard work she put into securing the win, and said that ‘having everyone around whilst we are playing away is amazing, the atmosphere was amazing.’
She also had words of praise for her Lancaster opponents as she said that ‘the doubles was a hard match’ as the Lancaster team played so well.
Kianna’s sportsmanship was on another level as she spent a lot of her post-match interview praising her doubles partner, ‘Ella played so well today, she played so consistently, especially for her first Roses match,’ and it was fantastic to see the bond that these sports create within their teams as well as with their opposing teams.
The 1st team’s tennis doubles smashed it; despite the vast amount of wide serves the York team hit, they still managed to ace it.