Aimee Gibson & Catherine Rose seal second straight FIP Silver title in Melbourne
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British duo Aimee Gibson and Catherine Rose made it two titles from two events to kick-start the 2025 season after winning the FIP Silver Melbourne Padel Open.
A week after clinching the FIP Silver Australian Padel Open in Sydney, Gibson and Rose extended their unbeaten record to eight matches – sealing their second trophy of the year without dropping a set.
The second seeds lost just three games in three matches en route to the final where they defeated top-ranked duo Bo Luttikhuis and Macella Koek 6-3, 6-2.
Gibson has now become the first British player to break into the top 100 in the FIP rankings at world No.98.
“These two weeks in Australia have been amazing,” said British No.1 Gibson. “Playing with Catherine, tournament by tournament we’ve just got better and better. The wins in Australia have been pretty convincing. It shows the more we play together the more we’re gelling together, and I think we’re going to play a lot more together now.
“I can’t believe I’ve achieved that in two years (reaching the top 100) and being the first British woman to do that is insane. It’s awesome as well that Catherine’s in the top 120 and her ranking is going higher and higher each week. Let’s get another Brit in the top 100.”
The victory marks a fifth FIP title for Gibson, while Rose adds a third trophy to her name. This has seen her leapfrog Tia Norton to become the new British No.2 with a world ranking at No.116.
The titles in Sydney and Melbourne are the biggest won by any British padel player to date – with the new FIP Silver events being equivalent to last season’s FIP Star.
I can’t believe I’ve achieved that in two years and being the first British woman to do that is insane.
Both Gibson and Rose are supported by the LTA’s Padel Performance Pathway, providing funding and support to compete on the tours at events such as these, and help them become the best players they can be. The players are further supported through their sponsors, venues and coaches working with them behind-the-scenes.
“It’s been a dream come true really,” Rose added. “We came to Australia with no expectation. It’s a long trip so we thought it would be best to do it with a friend. To win last week was unbelievable and it felt we couldn’t really improve on it.
“We came to Melbourne with the pressure off, played freely and our level got better with every single match. We’re growing in confidence as a partnership – we’re great friends off the court and we have a good understanding of each other.
“It’s been amazing for my confidence getting wins over some top 100 players – if you’d have said to me in December we’d have won both these tournaments, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
The Brits have formed a formidable partnership in recent months – something that they have been working on to build some consistency across their events at FIP level.
Their recent results will hopefully see them gain opportunities to push up to the Premier Padel Tour over the coming weeks and months – the highest professional level of padel competition.
Gibson concluded: “My goal now is to try and get into the P1s and P2s and then when Catherine gets her points up similar to mine, we can looking at competing on the Premier Padel Tour together."
