Britwatch: South gets going

Eurosport - Mon, 24 Mar 16:15:00 2008

British number four Mel South capped off a phenomenal week at the ITF event in Sorrento, Australia with a 7-5 6-7(6) 6-4 victory over Christina Wheeler to claim the title.

TENNIS Melanie South - 0

The second seeded Surrey native added the singles trophy to the doubles crown she had taken earlier in the week with Australian Monique Adamczak at the $25,000 hardcourt event, having beaten Kai-Chen Chang and I-Hsuan Hwang 6-2 6-4 in the final.

At an $10,000 ITF event in Bath, Sarah Borwell won the women's singles title after beating Frenchwoman Stephanie Vongsouthi 6-4 7-6 (5) in the final.

The 28-year-old Middlesbrough resident and playing partner Olivia Scarfi were denied the doubles title at the hardcourt event, however, losing the final to top seeds Martina Babakova and Iveta Gerlova.

Meanwhile on the men's Futures circuit, second seed Joshua Goodall beat top seed Richard Bloomfield 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-4 in an all-British final to win the $10,000 event in Bath.

Goodall also collected the doubles title with playing partner Neil Bamford after beating Bloomfield and Ken Skupski 6-1 3-6 10-8 in the final.

Alexander Slabinsky reached the quarter-finals of the $15,000 Futures event in Poitiers, France, while James Ward reached the last four of the $10,000 claycourt Futures competition in Castelldefels, Spain before falling to top seeded Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui.

Finally, British number two Alex Bogdanovic had a measure of success at this week's Challenger event in Sunrise, Florida.

Though the Belgrade-born lefty crashed out of the first round of the $100,000 event to Belgian Kristof Vliegen, Bogdanovic and Serbian partner Vladimir Obradovic reched the semi-finals of the doubles draw.

The 23-year-old world number 179 then fell again to Vliegen, as he and Obradovic lost 7-6 (2) 1-6 10-6 to Vliegen and Dutchman Peter Wessels.

Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport