Claire Vigrass retains Ladies Open Title
Reigning Ladies' world Real Tennis champion Claire Vigrass, 20, from Essex, reiterated her dominance of the ladies' game, retaining her Neptune British Open singles crown at Seacourt, Hayling Island, by beating world number 2 Karen Hird. Karen from High Wycombe put up a superb fight despite a barrage of ferocious volleys and viciously cut groundstrokes but found Claire’s weight of shot unanswerable. Claire then partnered her sister Sarah, 24, to the doubles title, defeating Karen and the US number 1 Freddy Adam, in straight sets, avenging their surprise defeat last year. This was the final leg of Claire’s bid to win her first singles and doubles Grand Slam. She now holds all four ‘major’ singles and doubles crowns plus both world titles.
Results:
Singles semi finals
Claire Vigrass bt Freddy Adam (US) 6-0 6-0
Karen Hird bt Sarah Vigrass 6-3 5-6 6-5
Final
Claire Vigrass bt Karen Hird 6-1 6-1
Doubles semi finals
Claire & Sarah Vigrass bt Penny & Tara Lumley 6-0 6-0
Karen Hird & Freddy Adam (US) bt Alex Garside & Aldona Greenwood 6-2 6-3
Final
Claire & Sarah Vigrass bt Karen Hird & Freddy Adam (US) 6-3 6-1