England make short work of Ukraine

[3] ENGLAND 3-0 UKRAINE
Julianne Courtice
 3-0 Anastasiia Krykun  11-5, 11-2, 11-1 (14m)
Lucy Turmel 3-0 Milena Velychko  11-2, 11-4, 11-4 (17m)
Jasmine Hutton 3-0 Anastasiia Kostiukova  11-7, 11-7, 11-2 (22m)

On the first match of the evening session on the outdoor glass court, No.3 seeds England were dominant as the quickly put Ukraine – who earlier that day had made their WSF Women’s World Team Championship debut – to the sword.

England’s Julianne Courtice began the rout with a 14-minute victory over Anastasiia Krykun before Lucy Turmel downed Milena Velychko in 17 minutes. Ukraine No.1 Anastasiia Kostiukova was able to offer more resistance against Jasmine Hutton in the final match – drawing a number of errors from the Englishwomen’s racket in the first two games – but was unable to take a game as she lost out 11-7, 11-7, 11-2.

England Coach David Campion said afterwards:

“We got a lot out of that. It was our first time on this court and if we do get through the stages then the semi-finals will be on here. Today was really about getting good practice on here and using the valuable  match time to feel the court and hit your targets, get a feel for the court and conditions, particularly because we play in the evening and the temperature drops.

“We’ve got a rest day tomorrow so it’s about building for our match with Hong Kong to try and top the group. It’s always good to top your group; we’re playing in two phases really. The first phase is to try and build and just try to top the group to give us an easier route.

“Everything is about preparing for the Hong Kong match.”