History made in Padel Tennis Scottish Cup, Stewart picks up doubles title
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Catch up on the latest results and updates on Scots competing around the world.
History was made as the first-ever winners of the new Padel Tennis Scottish Cup were crowned following a thrilling day’s action.
After both finals went the distance in front of a strong crowd, West of Scotland Padel women and Barnton Park Padel Club men lifted the inaugural titles.
The champions were, though, made to work for their celebrations as both matches finished 2-2 after all four rubbers – meaning they each required a 10-point shootout to split the sides.
In tense deciders, West of Scotland Padel edged out Edinburgh Sports Club in the women’s final, before Barnton Park beat Thistle following an epic men’s tie that finished under the lights at David Lloyd Shawfair.
Picking up the first ever women’s Scottish Cup were Meghan Montgomerie, Rachel Scallan, Charlotte Walker and Angela McGlynn, while the winning men’s side consisted of Andrew Burgess, Dexter Conrad, David Holmes and Will Lyburn.
West of Scotland had needed a 10-point shootout to get past Thistle in the previous round and put that experience to good use as they stretched out an early lead in the final’s decider before sealing the match with an unreturned serve.
Barnton Park, meanwhile, hadn’t lost a rubber before the showpiece, with clean sweeps over final hosts David Lloyd Shawfair, Edinburgh Park and West of Scotland Padel in the previous rounds. Their confidence told in the shootout as they led throughout before sealing the title with a volley.
Stewart wins in Spain
Hamish Stewart won his second career doubles title and his first of the 2023 season.
It was also a first victory alongside George Houghton as the pair teamed up in Spain at the M15 Alcala de Henares.
The British pair – who came close to victory at the M25 in Glasgow last month - were top seeds and got off to a quick start by beating home pair Ignacio Benzal Alia and David Puig Molina 6-2 6-4.
In the quarter-finals, they faced American duo Dali Blanch and AJ Catanzariti who they got past 7-6 (1) 6-3. The pair continued their form in the semi-finals as they dispatched Daniel Merida and Pedro Rodenas 6-2 6-3 to reach their second final together.
Stewart and Houghton faced second seeds Jesse Flores of Costa Rica and Finn Reynolds of New Zealand in the final. The top seeds’ clash went the distance, but it was Stewart and Houghton who held their nerve to capture the title 6-4 6-7 (3) 14-12.
In the singles draw, Stewart made another quarter-final appearance - his eighth in a row. He started with a convincing win over Spanish wildcard Ignacio Benzal Alia 6-1 6-1 before moving past Croatia’s Vito Tonejc 6-4 7-6 (5).
Stewart’s singles run ended after losing out in a third-set battle with Hazem Naw of Syria 6-7 (7) 6-2 3-6. Naw, seeded three, went on to win the tournament.
The Scot said:
We’ve been playing some good tennis recently so it felt great to get that title together and hopefully we can take that into next week and finish the 2023 season strongly.
Winter County Cup round-up
The men’s and women’s Winter County Cup took place over the weekend with Scottish teams competing around the UK.
Contrary to the Summer County format, Winter consists of singles and doubles with each team nominating six singles players and three doubles teams across three days.
East of Scotland Women played their way to promotion as a team consisting of Sofia Antipatis, Lucy Beetson, Heather Croll, Shaylin Holt, Sarah Mcfadyen, Ama Nisbet and Maisie Wood finished top of their Division 5A group in Tipton after besting Staffordshire, North of Scotland and Northamptonshire.
Meanwhile, North of Scotland men stayed in Division 2 after missing out on promotion on rubbers. West of Scotland men and women both kept their places in Division 3. East of Scotland men suffered relegation from Division 2. North of Scotland women will remain in Division 5, while South of Scotland women stay in Division 6.
Davis Cup recap
Team GB lost out to Serbia in the 2023 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. Serbia took an early lead thanks to Miomir Kecmanovic’s win over Jack Draper 7-6 (2) 7-6 (6).
Cam Norrie had a tough task ahead of him as he had to beat 24-time Grand Slam champion and world number one Novak Djokovic. Fresh from his ATP Finals win, Djokovic proved too strong as he bested Norrie in straight sets 6-4 6-4 to end GB’s 2023 title hopes.
