Emily Appleton on winning doubles title on ITF Tour in Mexico
Thursday 21 March 2019 16:37, UK
Bugs in your cereal and winning tennis titles in the jungle. Just another week on the ITF Tour for Emily Appleton.
The 19-year-old Sky Sports Scholar reveals all about her new six-legged friends and a lively latest tournament...
What a first week in Cancun it's been and a successful one! Even though I'm not sure I can call it Cancun!
After an eventful few days settling into the Mexican jungle (with bugs crawling out of my cereal) I finally started to get used to it here and acclimatise.
We were 40 miles outside of Cancun with no habitation in sight beyond the tennis complex but the facilities were still pretty good!
After a few days I found my feet and was training really well getting ready for my first match. In the first round I drew the fourth seed Alexandra Perper from Moldova ranked over 200 places higher than me.
Despite a tough first round match I played some great tennis and won in three sets. In the next round I beat Canadian Alexandra Mikhailuk, made the quarter-finals and then defeated American Lea Ma 6-4 6-3.
In the semi-finals I was up against the tough French girl Lou Brouleau and although I played well I just lost out. I still learned a lot with a lot of experience and I actually drew the same player in the first round of my next tournament so hopefully I can go into this next match confident and with a good game plan.
In the doubles I partnered up with a good friend of mine - Mexican Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez - and we always play well together.
We managed to win our way through to the final where we played American Dasha Ivanova and Perper (again!) and won the title 7-6 6-4.
It was a great first week in Mexico with lots of learning opportunities and chances to battle through tough conditions and I'm really happy and excited with how I'm playing.
