All sunshine and smiles on day 2
The second day of the 15th edition of Liverpool Hope University International Tennis Tournament kicked off as the sun broke through the clouds, and continued to do so straight through the day.
The first match of the day featured Norwegian starlet Melanie Stokke and 17-year old Anastasia Detiuc from Moldova. It took a tiebreak in the second set and a super tiebreak in the third, before Melanie eventually came out victorious, with a final score of 2-6, 7-6, 10-6.
Click here to read more about Stokke vs. Detiuc.
They might not have anticipated what they were in for, when the third match of the day showcased last minute addition to this year’s tournament lineup, Italian world number 49 Paolo Lorenzi and ITF-junior, 18 year old Keanu Ellen from USA.
Even though he seldomly plays on grass, and even though he was going to do so against a top 50 player in the world, it was clear that Keanu went into the match with a positive attitude.
It thoroughly looked as though he was enjoying himself, feeding of the audience who was loving the display of hard hitting athletic performance he put on.
A Bahrami-junior, he was named by one of the spectators, and perhaps rightfully so from the showmanship he showed today.
This wasn’t enough though to beat Paolo’s experience of many years on the world tour and high ranking, the match ultimately ending 3-6, 6-o to Paolo.
Ever popular legends
The icing on the cake were the ever so popular Legends Doubles matches of the day.
First up were crowd favorite Mansour Bahrami and Britain´s Barry Cowan, vs. Peter McNamara and Jeremy Bates.
As usual, they pretty much made up their own rules of tennis, to the enjoyment of the crowd. Like nets being pulled up off the ground to catch the ball as the opponent serves, or suddenly having in play three tennis balls at a time, is the most natural thing to do in tennis…
We are here to entertain you, stated Cowan happily to the crowd during his speech at the end of the match.
The naturally talented entertainers put a smile on everyone’s faces as they battled for the title Winners of this year’s first Lengends double.
It was as close as it can get, the match ending 8-6 to Mansour Bahrami and Barry Cowan.
The fifth and final match of the day was no legends exhibition in it’s origanal sense, as it featured highly active on the world tour for doubles, Liverpool duo Ken and Neal Skupski, vs. legend Jean-Michael Gambill and world number 89, Damir Dzumhur.
Meeting the Liverpool duo was a challenge Gambill and Dzumhur happily took on, and took seriously, fighting eagerly for a chance to win.
Despite their efforts, the Skupski brothers eventually won 8-7 (2) after a quite close encounter.
Get ready for another great day of tennis, as Day 3 of Liverpool Hope University International Tennis Tournament is on it´s way!
