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Eastbourne

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ROTHESAY INTERNATIONAL EASTBOURNE<br />

Taylor Fritz<br />

confidence and the courts here are always<br />

amazing to play on.”<br />

More champions were crowned in 2022 as<br />

world No.1 Diede de Groot won the inaugural<br />

Rothesay International women’s wheelchair<br />

singles title after beating Japan’s world No.2<br />

Yui Kamiji 6-3 6-2 in the first ever meeting<br />

between the two players on grass.<br />

The Dutch top seed fended off multiple break<br />

points in a marathon sixth game and then<br />

gained the first break of the match to edge<br />

4-3 ahead before wrapping up the opening set<br />

in 44 minutes.<br />

De Groot didn’t have to wait so long for her<br />

breakthrough in the second set, the threetime<br />

Wimbledon champion building on a 3-1<br />

lead and comfortably getting over the winning<br />

line.<br />

In the doubles, Britain’s Lucy Shuker’s hopes<br />

of ending the Rothesay International on a<br />

high were thwarted by top seeds Kamiji and<br />

Zhenzhen Zhu after the Japanese-Chinese<br />

partnership took the women’s doubles title<br />

6-1 6-1.<br />

Shuker and Montjane, who were contesting<br />

their eighth successive doubles final together,<br />

took their opponents to deuce on multiple<br />

occasions in a highly competitive match, but<br />

Kamiji and Zhu won all the big points to make<br />

a winning tournament debut together.<br />

R Seagulls<br />

are never<br />

far away in<br />

<strong>Eastbourne</strong><br />

R<br />

The perfect<br />

scene at the<br />

Rothesay<br />

International<br />

<strong>Eastbourne</strong><br />

R R<br />

Taylor Fritz<br />

in fine form<br />

on the<br />

Eastboure<br />

grass courts<br />

HISTORY OF ROTHESAY EASTBOURNE<br />

INTERNATIONAL<br />

Held since 1974, Rothesay International<br />

<strong>Eastbourne</strong> is classified as a WTA 500 series<br />

and an ATP 250 series.<br />

Played at Devonshire Park, <strong>Eastbourne</strong> is an<br />

event steeped in history and has welcomed<br />

some of the world’s greatest tennis talent onto<br />

its courts, watched on by thousands of tennis<br />

fans and spectators every year.<br />

Devonshire Park first opened its doors to the<br />

public as early as 1874, when it was intended<br />

as a cricket ground but tennis was gaining in<br />

popularity and won the rights to be claimed as<br />

a tennis ground.<br />

The first courts were laid in 1879 while the first<br />

stands were built in 1921 and the tennis centre<br />

as a whole was completed in 1998.<br />

The first professional Lawn Tennis<br />

Championships of Great Britain commenced<br />

in 1919 and the first Women’s International<br />

Tennis Tournament was hosted here in 1974,<br />

sponsored by the LTA.<br />

This tournament also holds important<br />

historical significance to the sport and<br />

continues to grow and develop each year,<br />

showcasing some of the best global tennis<br />

talent on its courts.<br />

Devonshire Park, <strong>Eastbourne</strong> | 24 June - 01 July 2023<br />

11

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