Heather Watson & Olivia Nicholls impress at W100 Dubai; Jay Clarke & James MacKinlay win ITF title in Turkey
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Watson & Nicholls narrowly miss out on Dubai title
Heather Watson continued her strong end to the season at the W100 Dubai, where she teamed up with fellow Brit Olivia Nicholls to finish runner-up in the doubles as well as reaching the semi-finals of the singles draw.
British doubles duo Watson and Nicholls impressed in their first tournament together, reaching the final after defeating second seeds Viktoria Hruncakova and Dalila Jakupovic 6-0, 6-1 in a dominant semi-final.
However, they just missed out on the title to top seeds Timea Babos and Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 2-6, 10-7.
The result sees Watson become the new British doubles No.1 at world No.72, while Nicholls jumps two spots to No.104.
Watson backed up her semi-final at the WTA 125 in Andorra last week with another final four spot in Dubai. The 31-year-old knocked out third seed Rebecca Sramkova 6-1, 6-3 in the quarters, before losing out to Arianne Hartono 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(5).
Clarke & MacKinlay crowned champions in Antalya
Jay Clarke and James MacKinlay won Great Britain’s only title last week as they clinched the doubles crown of the year at the M15 Antalya.
Clarke and MacKinlay beat second seeds Sarp Agabigun and Corentin Denolly 7-6(5), 7-5 in a close final in Turkey.
This is Clarke’s sixth title of the season and fourth in doubles as he continues to make strong progress back from injury. Meanwhile, it’s MacKinlay’s first professional title of his career so far.
