Day Six - Saturday Report

Juniors (Semi-Final): Great Britain 2 - 0 Brazil

Great Britain’s junior team will contest their second successive World Team Cup final on Sunday in Sardinia after beating Brazil 2-0 in their semi-final, courtesy of dominant performances from Dahnon Ward and Ben Bartram. 

Ward eased to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Joao Lucas Takaki to set Britain on their way to a final against second seeds Japan, while Bartram completed a brilliant victory over beating Jade Lanai 6-0, 6-1. 

Silver medallists in Israel in 2019, Great Britain will now bid to go one better against Japan on Sunday and claim a third World Team Cup junior title since 2007. 

Women (Bronze Medal Match): Great Britain 0-2 USA

Great Britain’s women were unable to repeat their bronze medal-winning performance of two years ago after slipping to a 2-0 loss to the USA.

Cornelia Oosthuizen’s first singles match in the third place play-off ended in a 6-3, 6-3 win for Shelby Baron, while Lucy Shuker lost out 6-3, 6-2 to world No.9 Dana Mathewson. 

Day Five - Friday Report 

Juniors (round robin): Great Britain 3 – 0 USA 

Great Britain’s junior team reached the semi-finals of their event after beating the USA 3-0 in their final round-robin pool tie and will therefore have the chance to play for a medal for the second World Team Cup in a row. 

Ruby Bishop and Dahnon Ward, both members of Britain’s silver medal-winning team at the 2019 World Team Cup in Israel, put the tie beyond the USA after winning both singles rubbers, with Bishop defeating Max Wong 6-0, 6-1 and Ward beating Charlie Cooper 6-2, 6-4.  

Joshua Johns then partnered Bishop to beat the remaining two members of the American team, Gaila Fosbinder and Maylee Phelps 6-2, 6-1. 

Great Britain will play Brazil in their semi-final on Saturday. 

Quads (5th place play off): Great Britain 2 – 1 Canada 

Great Britain’s quad team completed their campaign in Sardinia with a fifth place finish after defeating Canada 2-1 after a deciding doubles rubber. 

James Shaw earned Great Britain the lead after beating Mitch McIntyre, but Shaw’s Canadian namesake Rob Shaw beat Antony Cotterill 6-1, 6-1 to set up the decider. However, Cotterill and James Shaw coped admirably under pressure, wrapping up a thrilling finale 7-6(6), 1-6, (10-6) to end on a winning note. 

Day Four - Thursday Report 

Women (Semi-Final): Great Britain 0-2 Japan

Great Britain’s women will play the USA for the women’s bronze medal at the 2021 BNP Paribas World Team Cup after a 2-0 loss to second seeds Japan after the two singles matches in their semi-final. 

Both Cornelia Oosthuizen and Lucy Shuker had more success than their scores suggest against world Top 5-ranked opponents Momoko Ohtani and Yui Kamiji, but ultimately Ohtani and Kamiji won the majority of the big points. Oosthuizen lost 6-0, 6-1 to world No.5 and 2020 US Open finalist Ohtani, while Shuker took Kamiji to deuce on multiple occasions and in multiple games before the world No.2 wrapped up her 6-1, 6-2 win.  

With Oosthuizen and Shuker both members of the women’s team that won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Team Cup in Israel, they will now join senior debutante Abbie Breakwell in teaming up again to play the USA for the bronze medal in Sardinia on Saturday. 

Day Three - Wednesday Report 

Great Britain Women into Semi-Finals 

Women (round robin): Great Britain 2-1 Germany 

Great Britain’s women, bronze medallists at the 2019 World Team Cup in Israel, earned their return to the semi-finals by the narrowest of margins on the third day of play in Sardinia after Lucy Shuker and Cornelia Oosthuizen saved two match points to win their deciding doubles against Germany 6-1, 6-7(5), (11-9).  

While Oosthuizen beat Britta Wend 6-3, 6-3 to start Britain’s last round-robin contest of the week, Shuker was unable to find her best tennis as she lost to Katharina Kruger for just the second time in 29 matches, Kruger’s 6-2, 6-3 win forcing the most dramatic of doubles matches. 

All seemed to be going according to plan when Oosthuizen and Shuker took the opening set 6-1, but the Germans fought back from 2-0 down to take the second set on the tie-break. Kruger and Wend also made the better start to the match tie-break and at 9-6 up had three match points that, had they been able to convert one of them, would have placed them top of the pool. But Oosthuizen and Shuker showed great resilience to win the next five points and book Great Britain’s passage to the last four.

Shuker said: "I'm really happy with the fight today from Cornelia and myself in the deciding doubles to save three match points in the third set tie break and turn it around and get the win. We’ve topped our group and are into the semis."

Juniors (round robin): Great Britain 2-0 The Netherlands 

Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward kept Great Britain’s junior team on course for a second successive World Team Cup semi-final after beating their Dutch opponents in both singles rubbers to earn their second pool victory in successive days 

Ward wasted little time in beating Robin Groenewoud 6-3, 6-0, while Bartram’s 6-1, 6-1 victory over Maarten Ter Hofte secured an unassailable 2-0 lead before the doubles. Great Britain will face the USA on Friday to complete the round-robin phase of the event.  

Quads (round robin): Great Britain 1-2 South Africa 

Great Britain’s quad team were not able to finish their round-robin ties on a winning note after losing out 2-1 to South Africa, despite winning the doubles.  

After beating Turkey but losing out to the Netherlands, the third and last Pool 1 contest saw Greg Slade slip to a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 loss to Danny Mohlamonyane, while James Shaw lost 6-0, 6-4 to Donald Ramphadi. Shaw and Slade later paired up to win the doubles 6-1, 6-1, but Great Britain will now enter the play-off draw for fifth place. 

Day Two - Tuesday Report

Women (round robin): Great Britain 3-0 Mexico

Great Britain’s women’s team raced through their opening World Team Cup round-robin tie on the second day of play in Sardinia as Lucy Shuker, Cornelia Oosthuizen and Abbie Breakwell secured a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Mexico.

Shuker and Oosthuizen wasted no time at all in beating Rosalba Vazquez and Claudia Taboada 60 60 in both singles rubbers before Oosthuizen partnered 18-year-old Breakwell to victory in the doubles.

Breakwell made it a winning Great Britain senior debut as she and Oosthuizen powered through six games in succession in the second set to put the seal on a 6-1, 6-1 win that leaves the Brits in fine heart ahead of playing Germany in their final pool contest on Wednesday.

Juniors (round robin): Great Britain 3-0 France

Two years ago Ben Bartram, Dahnon Ward and Ruby Bishop helped earn Britain the silver medal in junior event and the trio made a fine start to their 2021 World Team Cup campaign after Ward and Bartram established an unassailable 2-0 lead over France in the singles rubbers.

Ward’s 6-1, 6-2 win over Damien Dubois preceded a powerful performance from Bartram, who eased past Justin Michel 6-0, 6-0.  Bishop and Joshua Johns completed the team success after taking the doubles 6-1, 6-4, giving Johns a World Team Cup win on his debut appearance for Great Britain.

Britain face the USA and the Netherlands in their remaining pool ties.  

Quads (round robin): Great Britain 0-3 Netherlands

After Great Britain’s quad team battled to a 2-1 win over Turkey in their opening contest of the week, top seeds the Netherlands proved to be an altogether different proposition as Tokyo 2020 Paralympic doubles champions and singles medallists Sam Schroder and Niels Vink proved too strong for Greg Slade and James Shaw.

World No.3 Vink overcame Slade 6-1, 6-1 before world No.2 and British Open champion Schroder put the tie beyond doubt with his 6-0, 6-1 win over Shaw. The Dutch duo then showed exactly why they won quad doubles gold medal in Tokyo, beating Shaw and Slade 6-0, 6-0.

The Great Britain team will now bid to finish the round-robin phase of the quad event on a high when they take on South Africa.

Day One - Monday Report

Quads (round robin): Great Britain 2 - Turkey 1

James Shaw and Greg Slade produced a stunning second set comeback in the deciding doubles rubber of Great Britain’s opening quad round-robin pool contest to defeat Turkey 2-0 on the first day of play in Sardinia.

Shaw recovered from 2-0 down in the first set of his singles match again Fatih Karatas to put together a sequence of four games on his way to eventually wrapping up a 6-3, 6-2 victory.

However, Antony Cotterill found Ugur Altinel to be a different proposition as the Turkish No.1 won his singles 6-3, 6-2 to force the crucial doubles contest.

After a comfortable first set for Shaw and Slade, the doubles looked to be heading for a decider as Altinel and Karatas led the second 5-2 and had two set points. However, Slade gratefully acknowledged his good fortune as a net cord went the way of the Brits on the first set point and he and Shaw gradually got themselves back in the match before wrapping up a run of five games for a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

Great Britain face the Netherlands and South Africa in their remaining two pool contests tomorrow and Wednesday.

Preview 

Great Britain take on Turkey in their opening tie in their quad round-robin pool on Monday at the World Team Cup in Sardinia. 

Antony Cotterill, James Shaw and Greg Slade are drawn in Pool 1 alongside Turkey, the Netherlands and South Africa. Turkey are competing in the quad event for the very first time, while third seeds Great Britain are five-time former World Team Cup champions, having lifted the quad trophy for the fifth time in 2017, when the event was also held in Sardinia. 

The quad team are the only one of the Great Britain teams in action on the opening day of play, with the women’s team in a three-way round-robin group along with Germany and Mexico, who play each other on Monday before both teams then play Great Britain. 

The Great Britain junior team of Ben Bartram, Dahnon Ward, Ruby Bishop and Joshua Johns will begin their campaign on Tuesday in after being draw alongside France, the Netherlands and the USA in their four-nation round-robin pool.  

After originally being named in Great Britain’s men’s team, 16-year-old Bartram has moved to the junior team after the withdrawal of the GB men’s team due to player illness. Dermot Bailey became ill before flying out to Sardinia, which reduced the number of available players to just two and therefore the decision was made to withdraw the men’s team. 

Great Britain Team Line-Up

Find out more about which players are competing for Great Britain here.