Mixed fortunes for Tia and ‘Smash’ team mates
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for GB No 1 Tia Norton in the US Professional Padel League as her Las Vegas Smash side suffered both the bitter taste of defeat and the elation of hard-fought victory in the third round of fixtures. Robert Mitchell reports.
On Saturday ‘The Smash’ faced a Miami Padel Club side inspired by former women’s World No 1 Marta Marrero in the stifling 30° heat at the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Centre.
Tia and partner Ana Paula de la Pena battled back from losing the first set 5-7 to claim the second 6-4 but Marta and partner Paloma Cortina ran away with the decider 6-2.
Juan Manuel Vazquez and Pablo Amora responded emphatically for Las Vegas to level the tie with a straight sets win and set up the deciding mixed doubles.
But it was not to be for Vegas as padel icon Marta used all her guile and courtcraft to help Miami edge to a 7-6, 6-4 victory.
Stingrays despatched
In Las Vegas’ second fixture of the weekend ‘The Smash’ came up trumps against the San Diego Stingrays with an epic 2-1 victory.
In the women’s doubles Tia and partner ‘Palila’ found themselves once again engaged in a three-set epic. After the first two segments the match was split 6-4, 5-7 with only a single service break between the pairings but the GB No 1 enjoyed a tense victory in a titanic decider 7-5.
Yet with Vegas losing the men’s doubles in straight sets it was once again down to the mixed doubles and this time ’The Smash’ prevailed 6-2, 6-1 to claim their third win of the season and stay very much alive in terms of a play-off place.
All of which has left Las Vegas sitting mid-table ahead of the final round of regulation fixtures this weekend against Los Angeles Beat. 🎾
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