US pros Allison Harris and Kelsey Grambeau took the women’s Open doubles title on day three at the Skechers Pickleball English Open, with Brits Thaddea Lock and Pei-Chuan Kao winning bronze.
Harris and Grambeau beat their fellow Americans, the legendary Megan Fudge and Susannah Barr, in the final by a 11-4 11-5 scoreline.
Thaddea and Pei, the top two English female players, went down to the eventual champions in the semi-finals 11-7 11-4, but then sealed third place with a tough 8-11 11-8 11-6 victory over Aussies Roos Van Reek and Kaitlynn Hart.
Champion Grambeau said: “This was our first tournament together, we typically have other partners back home and Allison, kind of at the last minute, invited me to this tournament.
“Allison is a really awesome player and a really good friend of mine, so it just seemed like a really fun opportunity for us to play the sport that we love and to hang out in England.”
Harris said: “It was really tough. We knew we’d have to go in with an aggressive game plan and just stick with it even if we lost a point or two, just remind ourselves to stick with the game plan. I feel like we did that really well the whole way through.”
Crowd favourites Erik Lange and Max ‘Purple Jesus’ Manthou took the men’s Open doubles title at Telford International Centre.
Lange and Manthou overcame Richard Livornese Jr and talented 19 year old MLP player Jack Munro 11-9 7-11 11-9 in the final on Saturday.
British best pals Louis Laville and Freddie Powell reached the quarter-finals where they were conquered 15-7 by ex-tennis pro Ryler Deheart and Floridian Rob Nunnery.
English national singles champion James Chaudry teamed up with Jamie Basford in the men’s Open doubles and they also reached the quarter-finals, but went down 15-1 to the eventual title winners Lange and Manthou.
Manthou said after the final: “This is my first English Open and hopefully not my last. It’s a great place to come and it’s been the most fun experience I’ve had interacting with the locals here, hearing them speak in different accents, and they’re all so friendly.
“Besides the pickleball, exploring the community of Telford has been a treat that I certainly won’t forget and hopefully I’ll be back again next year.
“Max and I have been playing together for about six months or so, we play all of the regular tournaments, we play in an MLP [Major League Pickleball] team all over the States and we have very good chemistry. “We feel very confident going into every match we play.”
