Lauryn John-Baptiste has the chance to cause another upset after making a rousing UK Pro League comeback to stun Katie Stresnakova in the Week 8 quarter-finals.
John-Baptiste, 22, battled from behind to topple Week 6 runner-up Stresnakova 1-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8 on Thursday to join Emily Appleton, Katy Dunne and Nadia Rawson in Saturday’s last four.
Week 8 has so far caused no trouble for overall league leader Appleton, who maintained her chances of winning her fourth event of the year – and extending her lead at the summit of the standings – after beating Holly Hutchinson in straight sets.
In the men’s draw, Dan Cox continued his charge to the top of the rankings after advancing to the men’s semi-finals – with victory this weekend catapulting him to the top of the standings with one week to go.
And he’ll be joined by George Houghton, Vijay Prashanth and Scott Duncan in the last four as they all topped their pools after a pulsating week in Aldershot.
The Premier League of British tennis, the innovative UK Pro League is the only domestic competition for the UK’s top professionals and brings them together for nine weeks of action to qualify for November’s Finals Week.
And with over half a million pounds of prize money up for grabs across the season, you won’t miss a thing with all the action broadcast live on BT Sport, The Tennis Channel and UKproleague.tv.
While Thursday saw Saturday’s eight semi-finalists all confirmed, Friday marked the play-offs to decide the Week 8 placings from fifth to 12th.
In the men’s draw, Liam Hignett beat Derrick Chen to advance to the 5th-place play-off – where he will face Ewan Moore who defeated the higher-ranked Oscar Weightman in straight sets.
— UK Pro League Tennis (@UKPLeague) September 29, 2021
On the women’s side, Emma Wilson comprehensively beat Freya Davies, coming through 6-1 6-0 and now facing Stresnakova who beat Hutchinson 6-3, 6-4 to advance.
Earlier in the week, Appleton beat Hutchinson in straight sets in the quarter-finals and is joined by Rawson – who occupies seventh spot in the overall rankings.
Rawson beat last week’s finalist Wilson in straight sets on Thursday to progress to the last four, with Katy Dunne repeating that result against debutant Davies.
Back on the men’s side of the draw, Duncan has enjoyed a dream UK Pro League debut having racked up three wins from three – including three bonus points – to top Pool D and advance to the semi-finals.
And he and Cox will be joined by the equally unbeaten Prashanth and Duncan on semi-final Saturday, as the action hots up heading into the climax of the season in Shrewsbury for Finals Week.
With a prize fund of around £500k and Broadcast live on BT Sport, The Tennis Channel and UKproleague.tv, the UK Pro League is the only place where the British player group come together to compete across the full year.
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