Emily Appleton and Julian Cash will be among the stars in UK Pro League semi-final action on Saturday as Week 5 of the event reaches its tantalising climax.
The Premier League of British tennis for the UK’s top professionals, the season-long competition involves players competing in a round robin format in ten qualifying weeks and racking up valuable ranking points to seal qualification for December’s Finals Week.
And Appleton currently tops the women’s competition having won three of the four weeks so far – and remains unbeaten this week.
The 21-year-old is once again in red-hot form having not lost a match in Week 5, beating Freya Christie 6-2 3-6 10-6 in the quarter-finals to set up tomorrow’s meeting against Amelia Bissett.
Semis day at the UK Pro League! 💪🏼
— UK Pro League Tennis (@UKPLeague) July 17, 2021
All action starting at 11 a.m. 👉🏼 live on https://t.co/xhAwChKcZz pic.twitter.com/0EfpA8xJpy
Bissett also won both her group matches before overcoming Jasmin Conway 7-6 (5) 4-6 10-2 in her last eight clash to tee up a meeting against the league leader.
Despite losing to Bissett in the round robin stage, Sonay Kartal is also in semi-final action and takes on Grace Piper for a place in Sunday’s final.
Before losing to Bissett, Kartal beat Holly Hutchinson in her opening round robin match and impressed in the last eight with a 7-5 6-0 win over second-placed Eliz Maloney.
Making her Pro League debut, Piper lost to Christie in her first match but then defeated Nadia Rawson and backed that up with a 6-0 6-3 win over Anna Brogan to seal the final semi-final spot.
In the men’s draw, Cash is the highest-ranked player in the league table remaining and he faces Max Basing tomorrow.
Cash, 24, has lost just a single set this week and was in scintillating form in his quarter-final as he dispatched Jack Gibbens 6-2 6-0.
The @UKPLeague Week 5 SFs start at 11am!
— Abigail Johnson (@abigailtennis) July 17, 2021
Myself on the mic for the first two: top seed Cash vs 18-year-old Basing (who hit with Andy Murray yesterday to warm up for this), and 3-time winner Appleton vs rising teen Bissett. Watch via BT Sport Extra and https://t.co/oISmq2E50K! pic.twitter.com/H5DtjwyPWx
But Basing has also impressed this week. The 18-year-old, who has spent time at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Majorca, has not dropped a set and beat Sean Hodkin 6-4 6-2 to reach the last four on his debut.
Another youngster who has impressed is Lui Maxted, who is in his first Pro League semi-final after competing in junior Wimbledon last week.
Maxted won both his group matches in deciding championship tiebreaks, but then comfortably beat Oscar Weightman 6-3 6-3 to set up a semi-final against Charles Broom.
Broom is yet to drop a set at this event, and beat Week 1 winner Josh Paris 6-2 6-3 in his quarter-final to set up a meeting against Maxted.
With a prize fund of around £500k and Broadcast live on BT Sport, the UK Pro League is the only place where the British player group come together to compete across the full year. Watch the action live on BT Sport, The Tennis Channel and ukproleague.com
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