Billy Harris, Arthur Fery and Abbie Breakwell lift titles in strong week for the Brits
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Missed out on the best of British tennis action this week? No problem, we’ve got you covered on all the British champions from around the world. So, from career best wins to claiming the singles and doubles titles in Spain, here’s a wrap-up of all the best action.
Harris takes first Challenger title
Nottingham’s Billy Harris took another big step in his career this week over in Canada, coming away from the Winnipeg Challenger with his maiden ATP Challenger doubles title.
Teaming up with home favourite Kelsey Stevenson for the first time in Winnipeg, the pair came from behind to defeat top seeds John Patrick Smith and Max Jacob Schnur 2-6, 7-6(9), 10-8 in an action-packed final.
The biggest title of Harris’ career sees him climb 171 places in the ATP doubles rankings to 354, with a series of impressive wins under his belt, which also saw the British Canadian team knock out fourth seeds Nicolas Mejia and Roberto Quiroz in straight sets.
Lloyd Glasspool and Norwegian partner Harri Heliovaara almost made it two ATP titles in two weeks as they made the final of the Umag Open, before losing out to Italian duo Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli 5-7, 7-6(6), 10-7.
Brits reap rewards in Nottingham
Back on home soil and the British success on the ITF Tour continues to roll on. In the fourth event held at the Nottingham Tennis Centre as part of our enhanced performance calendar, Arthur Fery, Alastair Gray and Stuart Parker all came away with trophies.
Fery claimed the biggest title of his career to date in the M25 Nottingham singles as he took down fellow Brit Dan Cox in a final that was heavily disrupted by the weather. The 20-year-old saved championship points after having moved from the grass to the indoor hard courts for the final set, to eventually beat countryman Cox, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
The victory rounded off a brilliant campaign from the young Brit, which saw him fight off top seed Gray, as well as the fourth and seventh seeds.
I had a tough draw here, but I knew my level was there and I was waiting to get a run,” he said. “Now we have another week here in Nottingham to look forward to and hopefully my ranking will get up so I can play Challengers soon.”
The wins kept coming for the Brits in the doubles, with Gray and Parker storming home to victory with a 7-6(4), 4-6, 10-5 win over fellow countrymen Charles Broom and Luke Johnson in a high-quality final. This was Gray’s fourth ITF title in Great Britain this year (two singles in Shrewsbury and Glasgow, and two doubles in Bath and Nottingham) and marks the biggest win of Parker’s career to date.
Britain’s Maia Lumsden however fell just short of what would have been her first singles title since 2018, after losing in the women’s singles final to second seed Priscilla Hon 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Lumsden had to battle her way through qualifying all the way through to final in her best performance of the season so far.
Wheelchair stars shine bright in Europe
The titles just keep coming for Britain’s wheelchair stars as Abbie Breakwell and Dahnon Ward tasted silverware over the weekend.
Breakwell – who claimed the ITF Futures titles in Nottingham only a few weeks ago – also claimed the singles and doubles trophies at the XIV Memorial Oliver Puras. The young Brit defeated Lola Ochoa 6-1, 6-3, to take her total wins in the singles round-robin group to three – equal to Ochoa and France’s Zoe Maras, but with the final result going in her favour, it was Breakwell who took the crown.
Meanwhile in the doubles, Breakwell and Maras won their second trophy together after fighting off Spanish duo Ochoa and Maria Torres 6-4, 6-3 in their home tournament.
Over in Croatia, Ward teamed up with Greek Giorgios Lazaridis to win his ITF Futures doubles trophy of the year after beating Drazen Miksic and Josef Riegler 3-6, 7-6, 10-4.
However, Lucy Shuker had to settle for runner-up at the Belgian Open as she and German partner Katharina Kruger lost to Manami Tanaka and Zhenzhen Zhu 4-6, 6-3, 10-4.
