by Simon Daish
England’s sole representative in the qualification round Charlotte Bardsley carried the hopes of a nation on her shoulders and she did her country proud, beating Romania’s Luiza Popescu across six games (6-11, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9) to book her place in the next stage of the competition.
Success in the Junior Girls’ Team event as a member of the Azerbaijan squad, Zhou Chuyi will also compete in the main draw of the Junior Girls’ Singles tournament.
In qualifying Zhou Chuyi accounted for Arianna Barani of Italy (14-12, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7) and will be hoping for a similar outcome when she meets Dutch opponent Men Shuohan in the opening round of the main event.
There was just the one victory for the host nation to celebrate, although the emotions were somewhat closer to relief as Ana Cristina Barbu came through a tight seven games battle against Luxembourg’s Ariel Barbosa (11-6, 7-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8).
The Junior Girls’ Singles competition starts with Round of 128 action at midday on Saturday 21st July.
