British padel stars claim victory at LTA Padel British Tour event in Stratford
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This weekend saw British players claim wins across the board at the LTA Padel British Tour at Stratford Padel Club.
There was British success across the men’s and women’s competitions with Chris Salisbury and Alfonso Patacho lifting the title in the men’s, and Tia Norton and Aimee Gibson succeeding in the women’s.
The competition in London was the third of six LTA Grade 1 events to take place across England, Scotland, and the Channel Islands as part of the British Tour.
Grade 1 events see the very best British players and international stars competing in standout events, across full weekends, for prize money with acceptance onto British Tour events being based on players' LTA Padel Ranking.
In the men’s draw of 32 pairs, the final saw the second seeds Salisbury and Patacho defeat the top seeds, Brit Louie Harris and Spanish partner Rafael Vega Otaolaurruchi in an exciting clash that finished 6-3, 6-4.
After winning their first LTA Grade 1 event of 2024, the winning British pairing said, “We’ve been on a good run, and we are confident, even though we didn’t feel our best going into this tournament, we have that belief now that we will find a way to get the win. Against Louie and Rafa is always a 50/50 chance, but we were lucky to find a way today.”
Top British seeds Norton and Gibson had an impressive tournament - failing to drop a set all weekend. In the final, the Brits came up against the third seeds Abigail Tordoff and Hungarian partner Dora Andrejszki and claimed the title 6-4, 6-2. Reflecting on the win the team said, “The final was not easy, Abi and Dora played very fast, and we only found our rhythm in the second set. We will play the Euros together, so this was a good preparation for us as a team. It was really great to get a win on home turf at Stratford Padel Club.”
Anka Mandleson, Stratford Padel Club Director said: “This was the highest quality LTA Grade 1 we ever hosted in our over 5 years of existence. It was fantastic for us to see a very high quality women’s final, while the level in the main men’s draw was high from the start, with semi-finals and finals pretty tough to call.
"It’s also the first major tournament we hosted since we added four new courts, and having the tournament run across eight of our nine courts made huge difference to players and spectators.”
View the full results below:
