Tuesday 14 August 2018 17:38, UK
It seems Emily Appleton has a bit of the Irish magic running through her veins.
The 18-year-old Sky Sports Scholar enjoyed success in Dublin as a junior and she returned earlier in August to star in the ITF singles and doubles at the Irish Open.
It proved to be quite a week.....
I finally did it! I've got the monkey off my back and won my first pro singles title!
Going into the tournament as top seed definitely put pressure on me to do well but I didn't let it faze me despite a pretty difficult draw.
I always love coming to Dublin and have fond memories as I won my first junior title there four years ago.
I play well on their courts and was confident in my game and knew that if it all connected and flowed then I could come through the tournament.
In the first round, I faced a tough Danish opponent called Olga Helmi who had made a final the week before. I won 6-3 6-2 playing strong tennis in difficult conditions so that was a great start.
Up next was Irish girl Georgia Lily Lynne-Browne and I only dropped two games.
In the quarter-finals, I played probably the toughest opponent left in the draw Amy Bowtell. She was a very tall and experienced Irish player whose best ranking was around 300.
She had a great game and one that really suited the surface. We played the match on centre court and the whole crowd was in favour of the local player!
It was a close tussle but I came through on fitness and won 7-6 3-6 6-3 in 2.5 hours.
Another Irish girl Julie Byrne was my opponent in the semi-finals.
She was having a fairytale tournament and wasn't expected to get this far. It made me a little anxious before the match as I knew the crowd again were not going to be supporting me and my opponent was certainly playing really well.
After a shaky start, I eventually came through 6-4 6-3 to take me into my third final!
I faced another Brit Sasha Hill. It was her first final so I knew she would be feeling nervous just as I was.
I had been in two losing finals but they had both been close. This final meant so much to me.
It was a really tough battle and we both played to a high level but after some strong serving I came through 6-4 6-3.
Winning the title and becoming champion was a thrilling feeling - all of the pre-match nerves were worth it!
Tennis like all sports can be pretty brutal. Every week only one person can win and everyone else loses at some stage. So to finally be the winner is amazing and such a confidence booster.
To top off a brilliant week I also made it to my 15th doubles final which we narrowly lost in the third set despite winning four more points than our opponents!
My wins in Ireland have seen my singles ranking rise into the top 600 for the first time (570) which is so exciting and I can't wait to get back out there on court again.
