The Progress Tour kicked off the month with the biggest tennis event in Norfolk's history! The first Dual Gender UTR Pro Tennis Tour Event in the UK touched down at The Easton Tennis Centre in Norwich, offering $50,000 in prize money to both emerging and established touring players. A total of 20 nationalities were represented across the Men's and Women's draws, and players aged between 16 and 39 provided some spectacular performances throughout the week.
The finals day in particular offered an absolute treat to the Norfolk crowd in attendance, starting off with the match up of the week in the Women's Finals. Great friends and soon-to-be doubles partners, Vlada Ekshibarova (36) and Ingrid Vojcinakova (29) fought tooth and nail for over 3 hours, with Vojcinakova falling just short of capturing the inaugural UK PTT Women's title, after Ekshibarova, a former Billie-Jean King Cup star, staged an impressive comeback, rallying from a 4-1 third set deficit to take the match and the title 5-7. The match certainly provided a noteworthy end to the first UTR PTT Women's Event in the UK.
On the Men's side, the second event of the year saw an all Brit final between future University of Baylor student-athlete, Louis Bowden and Mouratoglou Academy graduate, David Quayle. Louis powered through the match walking away with a straight-set win 6-4 6-2. At 18 years old, Louis demonstrated great mental strength and resilience, dropping just one set across the seven day event. He undoubtedly has a bright tennis future ahead of him, and is one to follow on his US college journey.
You can rewatch the finals matches through the button below... The women's final was second match on, followed by the men's final. Enjoy!
More about the UTR Pro Tour Tennis Series...
UTR Pro Tennis Tour events, presented by The Progress Tour, offer a fantastic format that provides all players with at least five matches throughout the week. The events provide players with the opportunity to settle into a professional tournament setting and build their confidence as the tournament progresses. Irrespective of winning or losing, it allows players to walk away with invaluable match experience, that they wouldn't normally get on the professional circuit.
Ingrid Vojcinakova confirmed, "It's rare for all players to walk away with prize money and a profit at this level. It takes away some of the financial stress that can go hand in hand with traveling to pro tournaments." The Progress Tour is excited to present a year long circuit of such PTT events, which will introduce an additional $250,000 of prize money into the British Tennis landscape across 2023.
For those players chomping at the bit for more, just around the corner is our third $25K Men's UTR PTT event of the year! The event takes place from 15-21 May at the Woodford Wells Club in Essex and promises to see another great line-up of players from the UK and further afield. Register now through the button below!