Henry Searle leads British clean sweep as summer grass court tennis season concludes in Nottingham

Wolverhampton’s Searle, who won his first ATP Challenger title at the Dublin Challenger last month, arrived in Nottingham as the fourth seed, and after a three-set battle to open his tournament account, he progressed to the final without dropping any further sets, including in defeats of fellow Brits Johannus Monday and Max Basing in the quarter and semi-finals. Searle faced number one seed Clement Chidekh of France in the final, who defeated Searle the last time they faced each other at the Lexus Glasgow Challenger in January, determined to seek revenge.

After a tight opening set decided by a late break Searle’s way, consecutive breaks to start the second set indicated a back-and-forth affair to come. However, another break Searle’s way midway through the set handed him an advantage which he would not relinquish, going on to clinch the match and the title, 6-4 6-4.

After the final, Searle said, "It's been a great week and this is a nice way to finish it off. [Clement] has been brilliant; I've seen his wins throughout the week and it was a really tricky final today and I just managed to get through it in the end."

In the doubles, Tom Hands and Matthew Summers ensured it would be two wins out of two for British players, claiming the title in a nerve-shredding match tiebreak. After advancing to the decider after a walkover in their semi final, Hands and Summers claimed the first set of the final, but were pegged back by their Turkish opponents S Mert Ozdemir and Arda Azkara, who reeled off three games in a row in the second set to level the match, and send it to a match tiebreak. After a number of minibreaks each way, it was Hands and Summers who earned the first championship points, and though the Turkish pair saved the first two, it was third time lucky for the Brits, who broke their opponents to seal a 6-4 4-6 12-10 win.

Matthew Summers (left) and Tom Hands following their men's doubles win at the Lexus Nottingham Challenger (Credit: Ben Cook Social Media Photography for LTA)

Following the conclusion of the singles final, Tournament Director Justine Albert said, “We’ve enjoyed another brilliant week here in Nottingham for the Lexus Nottingham Challenger, as players extended their stay on the grass on Nottingham’s world-class grass courts. As well as Henry, Tom and Matthew’s brilliant runs to their titles, it was great to see five Brits as part of the singles quarter-final contingent, including Felix Gill and Max Basing, fresh from their Wimbledon bows. A huge congratulations to all the winners, and a big thank you to the team at the Lexus Nottingham Tennis Centre for all their work in putting on the event.”

International tournaments such as the Lexus Nottingham Challenger are part of the LTA’s Performance Competitions Calendar (PCC) which provides significantly enhanced opportunities for British players at each age and stage of the performance player pathway on home soil. The calendar is designed to provide comprehensive opportunities for British players to play, earn ranking points and win prize money at home, throughout the year.

This week, it’s the turn of the women in Nottingham, as the Lexus Nottingham Tennis Centre plays host to a World Tennis W50 level event, with rising stars including Alicia Dudeney, Mika Stojsavljevic and Mimi Xu set to compete.