RESULTS: European Club Championships Finals, Linz, Austria
Women’s semi-finals:
PONTEFRACT (England) bt FITZWILLIAM LTC (Ireland) 2-1
Vanessa Atkinson bt Aisling Blake 12-10, 11-6, 11-5
Lauren Siddall lost to Laura Mylotte 11-1, 7-11, 6-11, 11-4, 6-11
Rebecca Botwright bt Roisin Brennan 11-5, 11-5, 11-4
L'HERMINE DE RENNES (France) bt ODENSE (Denmark) 3-0
Isabelle Stoehr bt Line Hansen 11-4, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6
Annelize Naude bt Anna-Carin Forstadius 11-7, 11-6, 11-5
Sonia Pasteris bt Anne-Mette Pedersen 11-9, 9-11, 11-6
Final:
PONTEFRACT bt L'HERMINE DE RENNES 2-1
Vanessa Atkinson bt Isabelle Stoehr 11-6, 11-7, 11-8
Lauren Siddall lost to Annelize Naude 12-10, 6-11, 6-11, 12-10, 8-11
Rebecca Botwright bt Sonia Pasteris 11-6, 11-7, 11-7
The women’s championship also reached a notable climax as Yorkshire club Pontefract celebrated their seventh consecutive appearance in the final – with Rebecca Botwright, from Manchester, playing a part in each of the campaigns!
Indeed the now-retired 26-year-old – like Garner, a one-time world No26 – scored the decisive victory as Pontefract beat defending champions L'Hermine de Rennes 2/1.
Squad number one Vanessa Atkinson, the Yorkshire-based former world champion from the Netherlands, put Pontefract ahead with an 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 victory over WISPA World Tour rival Isabelle Stoehr, from France. Dutch player Annelize Naude levelled the tie after beating Pontefract stalwart Lauren Siddall in five tense games, before Botwright clinched Pontefract’s third title in six years with an 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 win over Italian Sonia Pasteris.
