Fourteen year old Chloe De La Mare and her UK partner, Rosie Quirk (15), have started 2025 in style winning their first UK National title of the year this weekend in Ilford. The girls competed in the LTA Grade 2 level tournament run by Padel Tournaments UK and posted impressive wins against tough opposition.
Chloe and Rosie are ranked 7th and 8th in the LTA UK Ladies Adult rankings (Chloe reached a career high of no 6 at the end of 2024) and every lady ranked above them was competing in the Ilford event.
The girls made quick work of their first round match before securing an impressive victory over the number 2 seeds of Sophie Cousens and Angela Wood, 6-2, 6-3. Their semi final match was a similar affair with the youngsters racing to a 6-0, 6-2 victory.
In the finals the girls met experienced pair of Eloise Tait and Eva Marcus-Newberger. Continuing with the stunning run of form they had shown over the weekend, they took the first set 6-2 and raced to a 2-0 lead in the second. The experience of Ellie and Eva saw them battle back to even the scores at 3-3, before breaking again at 5-4 to take the second set. This meant the title would be decided on a 10 point Match Tie Break. The girls held their nerve to lift the trophy, winning the tie-break by 10 points to 7.
This is the second Grade 2 victory for Chloe and Rosie who won a Bristol event early last year, in the first tournament they had played together as a pair, becoming the youngest players ever to win such a title. Overall 2024 was a sensational year for the girls, both rising to the top ten of the UK adult rankings and becoming the first GB girls to compete in a FIP Promises event (the junior part of the World Padel Tour). They also reached the quarter-finals at the European Championships and posted an impressive win over the number one and two ranked UK ladies of Sarah Lochrie and Kerry White. After training hard over the off season, the new year couldn’t have begun better for Chloe who has her sights set on competing in the Olympics if padel is accepted as an official sport, as is rumoured to be the case, in 2032.
Reflecting on the weekend’s success Chloe said, “I’ve been training really hard for the last six weeks with my brother, Liam, since the last competition of 2024. To come here to the first tournament of the year with Rosie and win, and for all the hard work to pay off so quickly is amazing.”
“My goals for 2025 are to keep training hard and playing competitively with Rosie as much as I can. I would love to get into the GB Ladies squad as soon as I can.”