September Player of the Month winners announced
You’ve had your say, now it’s time to announce your winners for September’s Player of the Month, as voted for by Advantage members.
Men’s singles: Jacob Fearnley
The wins just keep on rolling in for Jacob Fearnley who has continued his winning streak on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The 23-year-old Brit set sail on a remarkable fortnight on the Challenger Tour where he picked up back-to-back titles in Rennes and Orelans. This achievement saw Fearnley become only the second British player to claim four Challenger singles trophies in a season, alongside current British No.1 Jack Draper in 2022.
Following his triumph in Orleans, Fearnley rose 28 places in the rankings to crack into world’s top 100 for the first time and landed himself a new career-high of No.98.
Women’s singles: Sonay Kartal
Sonay Kartal has swept up the women’s singles crown for the second month in a row following one of the most memorable months of her career to date.
After losing out in the final round of US Open qualifying, the 22-year-old made her way over to Tunisia for the Jasmin Open, where she fought through two rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw of the WTA 250 event.
In an incredible week-long display, Kartal only dropped one set en route to the final where she closed out her first WTA title with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Rebecca Sramkova. In doing so, she became the 12th British woman to win a WTA tour-level singles title.
As a result, Kartal soared into the top 100 for the first time in her career to achieve a new career-high ranking of world No.96.
Doubles: Jodie Burrage
Jodie Burrage’s positive start to her injury comeback continued in September, as she secured her first title of the season.
Competing in her first tournament since February, Burrage joined forced with Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti for the doubles draw at the Jasmin Open where the pair enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals.
With some matches under her belt and her confidence increasing, Burrage then teamed up with Anastasia Tikhonova for the W100 Caldas da Rainha the following week.
After edging past Vitalia Diatchenko and Anastasia Zakharova 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 in the semi-finals, the British, Russian pair booked their spot in the final where they went on to clock a convincing 7-6(3), 6-4 win over Portuguese duo Matilde Jorge and Francisca Jorge to etch their names on the trophy.
Wheelchair: Alfie Hewett
September also welcomed the conclusion of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games where we saw four British tennis players claim medals across the men's wheelchair singles, doubles and quad doubles draws.
That said, it was world No.2 Alfie Hewett who claimed September’s wheelchair Player of the Month crown after securing two medals in the French capital.
The fortnight saw Hewett wrap his hands around a long-awaited Paralympic gold medal after he and long-term doubles partner Gordon Reid reigned supreme in the men's wheelchair doubles. The pair didn’t drop a set on their journey to gold and capped off a sensational campaign with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over Tokito Oda and Takuya Miki to seal a historic career Golden Slam.
Meanwhile, the 26-year-old narrowly missed out on doing the Paralympic double after settling for silver in the men's singles draw. In a battle between the world No.1 and No.2, Oda pipped Hewett to the post in a tight match ending 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in favour of the Japanese star. Neverthless it was a highly successful Paralympic campaign for Hewett, who will take the confidence heading into the tail end of the season.