British Tennis - Lawn Tennis Association

The men’s doubles final on the AEGON GB Pro-Series tour this week was an all British affair, with three of the four players, Chris Eaton, David Rice and Sean Thornley, contesting the final for the third week in a row.

The previous two weeks had seen Eaton win the title with Dom Inglot, but Rice & Thornley, who qualified for the Wimbledon doubles event in 2011, made it third time lucky in their 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Eaton and partner Lewis Burton.

After the match the pair commented: "We have had a good three weeks, getting off to a great start to the year, and today was particularly pleasing to capture the title after two runner-up spots."

Rice & Thornley will now take a well deserved rest week before embarking on some ATP Challenger events in mainland Europe.

In the singles event the top two seeds have made it through to the final. Jerzy Janowicz [1] and Yannick Mertens [2] have both only lost one set en route to Saturday's final, and were in commanding form in Friday’s semi-finals.

24 year old Mertens, a regular participant at professional events in Britain, got off to a strong start against the in-form David Rice, winning the first set 6-2 in 30 minutes, and his strong hitting from the back of the court continued into the second set which he also won 6-2. 

Top seed Jerzy Janowicz, who had a career high ranking of 140 in August last year, made full use of his 6ft 6ins stature in disposing of the unseeded Jan Minar. The 21 year old Pole who was ranked 5 in the world as a junior, made full use of his powerful serve, which has been clocked at 148mph, when winning the first set 6-2 for the loss of only five points on serve. A decisive break at 2-2 in the second set gave Janowicz the opportunity to serve out the match for a satisfying 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Saturday’s men’s singles final starts at 11.00am on the indoor courts of the Wirral Tennis & Sports Centre. Entry to spectators is free of charge.