Cam Norrie finishes runner-up in Auckland, Andy Lapthorne reaches Victoria final, and Brits shine in Loughborough
• 3 MINUTE READ
Catch up on the latest from the Brits competing around the world as Cam Norrie and Andy Lapthorne make finals down under and we have British champions on home soil.
Norrie makes final in Auckland
Norrie’s brilliant start to the season continued in New Zealand last week as the 27-year-old reached his 12th ATP final of his career.
Coming off the back of an unbeaten run at the United Cup – where he took down top 10 opponents Taylor Fritz and Rafael Nadal – Norrie extended his run to six consecutive matches with victories against Jiri Lehecka, Marcus Giron and Jenson Brooksby.
However, the world No.12 would eventually have to settle for the runner-up spot. Despite taking the opening set against Richard Gasquet in the final, he eventually lost out 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Just two days later, Norrie begins his Australian Open campaign as the 11th seed, looking to push on with his impressive start to the 2023 season so far.
There was also an ATP semi-final in Adelaide for Britain’s rising star Jack Draper, who knocked out eighth seed Tommy Paul and third seed Karen Khachanov before losing out to eventual champion Soonwoo Kwon 7-6(6), 6-7(2), 6-3.
British doubles champions in Loughborough
It was a strong showing for the Brits at the ITF events in Loughborough last week, with doubles duo George Houghton and Tom Hands coming away as the men’s doubles champions
Houghton and Hands won an all-British clash in Saturday afternoon’s final against top seeds Ben Jones and Mark Whitehouse 6-0, 6-3 in just under an hour to clinch the first trophy on our Performance Competitions Calendar for 2023.
There were British runners-up in both singles events as Eliz Maloney and George Loffhagen were denied in both finals. Maloney was defeated by seventh seed Celine Naef 6-0, 6-4, while Loffhagen lost out to France’s Clement Chidekh 6-4, 6-2.
Lapthorne reaches final in Victoria
In his first event of the season, Lapthorne finished runner-up at the Victorian Open last week.
The 15-time Grand Slam champion breezed past Australia’s Jin Woodman in the first round before knocking out second seed and doubles partner David Wagner 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-1 in the semi-finals.
However, facing off against a familiar opponent in top seed Heath Davidson, the Australian clinched the title with a 7-5, 7-5 victory.
Britain’s wheelchair stars now head to Melbourne for the first ITF Super Series event of the year.
