WIESBADEN-NORDENSTADT, Germany — Jessica Blaesche’s aggressive net play proved to be too much for the International School of Brussels’ Malee Wheat in the girls singles final of the European tennis championships Saturday.
The AFNORTH senior defeated Wheat 6-2, 6-2.
Wheat, a freshman, did not go down without a fight. She became the first player this year to avoid being shut out by the ISB player.
Blaesche blamed it on her footwork.
“I’m normally good at footwork. I kind of lost my track and she was taking her chances on that,” she said. “My opponent was young and she was good.”
Blaesche didn’t lose a game in her first 10 matches this season, including three in last weekend’s Division II tournament.
While unhappy with her performance, she was glad that the last match of her high school career ended in victory.
“Of course, I mean, who wants to lose?” she asked.
In the last match of the day, ISB’s Jun Koide settled a long-standing rivalry with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory over Bitburg’s Jordan Matthews for the boys singles title.
The two seniors had their ups and downs throughout the match. Matthews struggled with his serve, and Koide with control on his powerful serves and volleys.
In last year’s championship, Matthews placed fifth, losing to Koide 7-5, 6-4, who went on to a second-place finish second.
“[It’s] a huge improvement from last year, and actually I’m really pleased,” Matthews said. “I couldn’t get my serve going today, and that’s one of the things that was really disappointing. [Koide] uses a lot of spin; has a lot of finesse on the court, which is a good combination.”
ISB took three titles in the championships.
The ISB boys doubles team of Vivien Luet and Victor Mathieu defeated Würzburg’s Sam Ochinang and Jason Fleck for the championship, 6-2, 6-1.
In girls’ doubles, the No. 1-seeded ISB team of Janice Reinold and Paula Glover overcame Heidelberg’s Joy Pandolfi and Stephanie Best, 6-1, 6-1.
