GB through to Davis Cup Final Eight, McHugh wins in Madrid, Domestic Junior Success

Team GB battles to secure place in Davis Cup Final Eight

Sunday night saw Leon Smith and Team GB triumph over France in an epic clash that came down to the wire.

With the match tied at 1-1, Neal Skupski and Dan Evans secured GB’s ticket to Malaga, coming back from a set down and saving four match points to beat Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 1-6 7-6 7-6.

Among Team GB were Scots Andy Murray and Cam Norrie who both competed in singles throughout the week.

Murray, who holds the joint record for Davis Cup appearances (13), headlined against Switzerland in singles on Friday. He came through a three-set battle against 21-year-old Leandro Riedi, ranked 152 in the world, 6-7 6-4 6-4.

This gave GB a crucial lead as Stan Wawrinka went on to beat Cam Norrie 7-5 6-4 to level the tie. Evans and Skupski were able to secure the decider 6-3 6-3 against Dominic Stricker and Stan Wawrinka.

Cam Norrie was part of the France tie but was unable to get past Ugo Humbert with the Frenchman edging Norrie out 7-6 3-6 7-5 to keep France’s Davis Cup dreams alive.

Neither were part of the GB victory over Australia on Saturday as it was Jack Draper and Dan Evans who headed the singles line up in the 2-1 against the Aussies.

Team GB will now travel to Malaga, Spain where they will face either Serbia or Italy in the opening round from the 21^st-26^th November.

McHugh wins M25 Madrid

Aidan McHugh won his second pro title of the season over the weekend in Madrid, Spain.

Aidan opened his run by defeating Canada’s Juan Carlos Aguilar in straight sets 7-6 6-3. In the second round he faced in-form Pablo Masjuan Ginel who had made a final run the week prior. McHugh prevailed as the encounter came down to the final couple of points, 2-6 6-3 7-6(6).

In the quarter-final Aidan downed fifth seeded Spaniard Sergi Perez Contri 7-5 6-1. He then went on to beat Bruno Pujol Navarro in the semi-final 3-6 6-3 6-2, Navarro had taken out third seed Dan Cox the round before.

The final saw McHugh take on Germany’s Peter Heller who was on a run of form, having won his last pro event coming into Madrid. However, McHugh extended his own winning streak to take the M25 title 7-5 6-4.

Scott Duncan makes first ATP Challenger semi-final

Scott Duncan and Marcus Willis returned to form last week at the ATP Challenger Cassis, France.

The pair came through their first round against New Zealand duo Finn Reynolds and Artem Sitak 6-1 7-6(2). In the second round Duncan and Willis took down fellow Scot Aidan McHugh and American Hunter Reese 6-1 6-0 to secure their place in their first Challenger semi-final.

The pair were up against top seeded French duo Dan Added and Jonathan Eysseric, ranked 82 and 91 respectively. Despite a closely contested match, the French pair put and end to Duncan and Willis’s run 6-3 7-6(3). Added and Eysseric went onto win the event, making it a third straight title for Added.

Despite the semi-final loss, Scott has now risen to a career-high ranking of 226.

In case you missed it: Gordon Reid makes US Open singles final

Gordon Reid made his first singles Grand Slam final of the season at the US Open last week.

Reid picked up a straight sets win in the first round against Alexander Cataldo of Chile 6-2 6-2. In the quarter-final he bested world number four Martin De la Puente 1-6 7-5 7-5.

Reid carried on his form to beat Frenchman Stephane Houdet in the semi-final 6-0 6-3 to set up a final clash with doubles partner Alfie Hewett in the championship match.

It was not to be for Reid in the final as Hewett prevailed 6-4 6-3 to capture his second Grand Slam singles title of the year.

In the doubles, Reid and Hewett teamed up once again but unfortunately their bid for the Calendar Grand Slam was cut short by Stephane Houdet and Takashi Sanada 5-7 6-7(8) in the semi-final.

Domestic Junior Success

A busy week of junior domestic events saw Scottish success for youngsters.

In Bolton, the 9U Tennis First Get Ready event took place. This featured the top eight juniors in GB in the 2014 year-of-birth category. Louis Taylor, Frank Atkins, and William Forbes were among the eight to compete.

Louis won the overall event with Frank finishing in second place. William finished the weekend sixth overall.

Elsewhere, the East of Scotland 12U Boys travelled down to Devon where they competed in Division 1A. The team consisted of Patrick Gilchrist, Seth Kandasamy, Arthur Mckinlay, Myles Shanley, Coby Stewart, and Mitchell Tasker. The team topped their group ahead of Devon, Warwickshire, and Hertfordshire to qualify for the national finals in two weeks’ time.

The West of Scotland 12U Girls finished top of Group 2E in Northumberland where they competed against fellow Scottish counties North, East and South of Scotland. The winning West team was made up of Carmen Leggat, Sophie Letson, Ella Morrison, and Jazmin Ward.

Cameron Rae and Fraser Newcombe were invited to a national match play down in Corby where Cameron finished first at the event and Fraser placed fourth.