STARING back at you as you arrive at Scotstoun for this week’s GB Pro Series or Scottish Championships – next to images of Andy Murray and Gordon Reid – is a poster of a smiling teenage girl holding a trophy which is stuffed full of oranges.
This is Maia Lumsden on the occasion of her victory in the final
of the 2012 Junior Orange Bowl, the prestigious Under-14 annual youth tournament of which previous winners include Chris Evert and Justine Henin (Murray himself took the Under-12 boys’ version in 1999).
It hardly needs saying that the parameters of her career have proved different to those of the former world No.1 from Dunblane, but while Lumsden seems to have been around for ages, in truth she only recently turned 20 and still essentially near the start of her journey.
There has been heartache along the way – the sudden loss of her dad David in 2016 – but, now back at the University of Stirling after two title wins in Sunderland and the Wirral during 2017, Lumsden appeared confident and content as she got her 2018 under way with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win against Jodie Anna Burrage, also of Great Britain, here yesterday.
Having to deal with the booming Burrage serve, Lumsden – ranked 524 in the world – showed the shot-making which took her to the final of this event two years ago.
The prize purse here has increased in each of the last two years – from $10,000 it rose to $15,000 last year and is now up to $25,000. That guarantees a higher standard of competition. Things will get harder in today’s second round against Kathinka von Deichman of Lithuania, the No.6 seed.
Too old now for the juniors, the goal for Lumsden is simply to work her way towards the world’s top 250, from where she could be considered for
a wild card into Wimbledon.
“It was a tough match,” said Lumsden. “She is my good friend,
we came through the juniors together. We were even practising together yesterday and then an hour later the draw came up. She hits a big ball and particularly at the start I was finding the courts a bit fast, a bit faster than Stirling. But once I got used to them
I started playing a lot better.”
Lumsden, who went down in her doubles tie with compatriot Ali Collins later on, was the only Scot still standing in the singles here by close
of play yesterday. That was because Aidan McHugh, who reached the
last four of the boys’ singles at the Australian Open, had gone down 7-6 (2), 6-2 to No.3 seed Yannick Mertens.
The Belgian, 13 years older and all of 1500 places higher than the Scot, was pushed to the limit in that first set, only for the tiredness and unforced errors which crept into the Glaswegian’s game in the second set to compromise his chances of victory. “In terms of his level he was probably matching the guy in terms of shot to shot,” said coach Toby Smith.
“The areas of his development that we saw in his game the last few weeks came out again but the other guy was a bit more consistent. That is something for Aidan to work on, just reduce the few errors, but his good stuff is very exciting. If he can tidy up some of these loose points and get physically stronger, he is looking pretty good.”
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