Real action at day four of Lexus Ilkley Trophy

Tuesday, 18 June 2024 18:25

Day Four at the LTA’s Lexus Ilkley Trophy promised to be the first day of real action with Brits and familiar names headlining, writes Jacob Elomri.

The first match on court 1 was the Brit Arthur Fery against Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic. The world No.136 Croatian contributed to a very close first set but a break at the end meant the world No.249 took the first. Fery duly won another tight set with a rather comfortable tie break only dropping two points.

It finished 6-4 7-6(3) and with Fery into round two he gave some thoughts; “I’m quite happy with my performance today. I managed to get going from the start and served well on the fast courts. I wasn’t far from winning my first round match last week, but couldn’t quite close it out. Happy I managed to get it done today.”

Brit Lily Miyazaki played the world No. 147 Elena Gabriela Ruse. A break in her second return game had good promise. It didn’t last though, being broken back in the next game meaning she lost the first set. However, she was in a fighting mood and grinded two tie break sets to produce one of her self-proclaimed best wins of her career to defeat Ruse 2-6 7-6(7) 7-6(3) in nearly three hours.

She gave her thoughts on what that performance gives her; “I think that’s going to give me a lot of confidence. Coming through a three setter and turning it round after not a great first set gives me a lot of confidence.”

On court four the wildcard Ryan Peniston played the Slovakian Lukas Klein in his first round match. Breaking in the first, Klein only dropped eight points on serve.

Sonay Kartal was also on court for her match up between Australian Destanee Aiava. The London born star was able to break in her first return game and carried it through to win the first set. The second set proved more of a challenge with no breaks all set resulting in a tie break in which she aced winning 7-4 and the match 6-3 7-6 (4).

One of the youngest players on show was 15 year old Hannah Klugman. For only her third ITF tournament of year and first on grass, some difficulty would have been expected. She was beaten in the first. An hour long set though, where she took it to a tie break just losing 8-6 with a final made the final score 6-2 7-6. While not a win, it’s clear she is competitive and her future is very bright.

The big names where in action as well on day four. Belgian David Goffin was able to close his match out this morning against Jurij Rodionov in straight sets 7-5 6-3.