Chronicle EditorBrandon Moyo, [email protected]
TENNIS sensation Emmly George once again proved her mettle as one of Zimbabwe’s brightest prospects on the tennis scene when she won the Ten-Pro Global Junior Tour-powered Paris Bowl tournament on Friday last week.
The 13-year-old tennis sensation has been on a European tour since last month and Friday’s victory in Paris was testament to the hard work that she has been putting in throughout the year. It came after she also competed in the Swiss edition of the tour.
In Paris, the Zimbabwean ace came from a set down to beat the United States of America’s (USA) Chloe Meyer 2-1 to land her hands on the title. George was outplayed in the first set, losing 6-1 before she dug deep into her tank to win the second set 6-3. She would go on to register another 6-3 win in the third set to be crowned champion.
On her way to victory in the final, George went past Oceane Meyer also from the USA in the round of 16 before going on to cruise to victory against Enra Cakartas from Cyprus in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, she went to face Julia Mikaelsson of Sweden.
Against Oceane Meyer in the round of 16, George won 2-0 with set scores of 6-4 and 7-6 before going on to comfortably beat Cakartas 6-0;6-0 to progress to the semi-finals where she met Mikaelsson.
Zimbabwe’s teenage sensation came from a set down to win 2-1 against her Swedish counterpart. George went down 6-2 in the first set before she came back to win the second and third sets 6-3; 6-0 respectively to set up a final date against Chloe Meyer.
Not only did she compete against 14-year-olds but also took part in the tournament for 13-year-olds where she finished in fifth place. George beat Thale Sortveit of Norway in the fifth/sixth place play-off match with set scores of 6-0; 6-2. Her journey began with a 6-0; 6-2 win over Lotti Lord from England in the last 16 before going on to lose her quarter-final encounter to Malta’s Pippa Cutugno, with set scores of 6-3; 6-2.
In her first play-off match, George beat Ava Cabatuan of USA with set scores of 6-2; 6-1 before she went on to face Sortveit.
Every year, TEN-PRO organises the international TEN-PRO Global Junior Tour for young tennis talents such as George.
The target group for this international tour are ambitious, world-class, highly talented tennis players in the category Under-10, Under-11, Under-12, Under-13, Under-14, Under-15 and Under-16.
The Tour consists of 14 international tennis tournaments that are held annually in Europe, Africa, Australia, Middle East and the USA. TEN-PRO organises its tournaments at the best tennis academies in the world such as Rafa Nadal Academy, Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, IMG and Boris Becker Tennis Academy among others
During the tournaments, TEN-PRO uses the latest video technologies such as Playsight and Zenniz. In addition, UTR points (Universal Tennis Rating) can be earned at all the tournaments. – @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter