Natalia Augustynska, who plays at both the Craigmillar Park and Thistle clubs, has made a highly promising start to life on the Tennis Europe circuit.
The 11-year-old prospect travelled to Cork, Ireland, to debut in the under-12 European event and made a strong impact in both singles and doubles.
In the singles Natalia won two group matches before coming from a set down to beat a ninth ranked Irish girl, Jane Doyle. Eventually Natalia bowed out in the semi-final against Eastern European, Aliaksandra Unuchka, who is well established at this level.
Unuchka and her sister, Katsiaryna accounted for Natalia and partner Chloe Mahon (Ireland) in the doubles final but not before they had caused a quarter final upset by beating an Irish pair ranked No 2 and No 3 in singles then staged a comeback to win the semi-final from a set down.
The Augustynska sisters are proving increasingly familiar with success; in addition to Natalia winning the under-12’s at the Edinburgh Open big sister Hanna won the under-18 event and only lost her women’s event semi-final 10-12 in a tie-break.
In doubles Hanna partnered Aadya Chadalawada to victory as she did more recently in the Welsh Open 16 and under doubles.
Hanna is pictured, right, with her Edinburgh Open under-18 trophy alongside singles final opponent Emma Barlow, from Glasgow.
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