CHARLOTTE Bardsley picked up her first international gold medal by winning the Junior Girls’ Singles at the Slovak Junior & Cadet Open – and she added a team bronze for good measure.

The 17-year-old Stourbridge athlete was seeded second for the event and turned in a series of impressive performances, culminating in a 4-0 (13-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6) victory over seventh seed Zuzana Pekova of the host nation.

Earlier, she won her group with three victories out of three – though she needed to come from 2-1 down to win 3-2 against the host nation’s Jana Terezkova – and then powered through her ties in the last 16 and the quarter-finals, both 4-0.

Her semi-final against fifth seed Charlotte Lutz of France hinged on the fifth game, which she won 13-11, going on to complete a 4-2 (10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7) victory.

Old Swinford Hospital School student Bardsley lined up with fellow English athlete Millie Rogove and Norway’s Martine Toftaker in the Junior Girls’ Team event and continued in top form.

She won all four of her individual matches as the team topped their group thanks to 3-1 victories over a Czech Republic-Poland composite and over Slovakia. The latter match was clinched by Bardsley again beating Pekova, on this occasion by a scoreline of 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-13, 12-10).

However, England-Norway were beaten 3-1 by France in the semi-finals and had to settle for bronze. Bardsley put them ahead by defeating Sofia Ray 3-2 (6-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 11-2), but France won the next three matches, including Lutz getting revenge over Bardsley with a 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-3) win which clinched the tie.