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