Jack Draper reaches Madrid Open final, Maia Lumsden wins WTA 125 title & Brits star in Nottingham
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Keep up-to-date on the world of British tennis as Jack Draper made the final in Madrid, Maia Lumsden picked up a doubles title and British players starred on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
Draper finishes runner-up in Madrid
Jack Draper furthered his case as the in-form player on the ATP Tour this season by making his second career ATP Masters 1000 final and first on clay at the Mutua Madrid Open.
The now world No.5 defeated the likes of Matteo Berrettini, Tommy Paul and Lorenzo Musetti en route to the final where he narrowly lost out to former Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
A breakthrough result on the clay, Draper has shown that he can be a serious threat across all surfaces and must now be seen as a strong contender when the French Open comes around in a few weeks’ time.
With a final in Madrid and title at Indian Wells, Draper has now overtaken 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the world rankings – breaking into the top five – and he’s currently No.2 in the Race to the Nitto ATP Finals.
Jacob Fearnley and Cam Norrie both reached the third round, while Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal all exited in round two.
Lumsden wins WTA 125 titles in Saint Malo
Former British No.1 Maia Lumsden returned to form last week at the WTA 125 Saint Malo Challenger, clinching her first doubles title of the season alongside Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya.
Lumsden and Ninomiya were unstoppable throughout the week in France – taking home the title without dropping a set.
The duo closed out their first trophy together in their maiden event as a partnership by defeating Georgia’s Oksana Kalashnikova and Italy’s Angelica Moratelli 7-5, 6-2 in the final.
This is Lumsden’s first title since winning the Midland Challenger with Emily Appleton last year. She’s currently ranked at world No.71 in the WTA doubles rankings.
On the men’s side, Britain’s David Stevenson also made an ATP Challenger Tour doubles final in Mauthausen, Austria with Ryan Seggerman.
The British, American duo lost to Nico Hipfl and Jerome Kym in the final 7-5, 3-6, 10-2. This was Stevenson’s second ATP Challenger final of the season so far.
Watson & Miyazaki impress in Japan
Over in Japan there were standout weeks for Heather Watson and Lily Miyazaki competing at the W100 Gifu.
Watson reached the semi-finals of women’s singles event after eventually losing out to Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 7-5.
The British star is in a strong run of form over the last month, having also made the semi-final at the WTA 125 Puerta Vallarta and the quarter-final of the W100 Tokyo last week.
In the doubles, Miyazaki finished the week as runner-up with American Emina Bektas. The British, American dup cruised to the final without dropping a set, but missed out on the title to second seeds Momoko Kobori and Ayano Shimizu 6-1, 6-2.
Banks & Loffhagen win singles titles in Nottingham
On home soil, the Brits took home three of the four titles on offer at the Lexus GB Pro Series Nottingham – with all-British finals in both singles draws.
In the W35 final, top seed Amarni Banks defeated Alice Gillan 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 to win the second singles trophy of her career.
Meanwhile in the men’s singles, George Loffhagen beat former world No.17 Bernard Tomic in the semi-final before knocking out countryman Charles Broom 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
Finally in the women’s doubles, British duo Naiktha Bains and Holly Hutchinson lifted the title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Brooke Black and Daniela Piani.
Staying with the ITF World Tennis Tour, Paul Jubb was also amongst the title winners last week at the M25 Santa Margherita di Pula in Italy.
The 25-year-old Briton secured his first title of the season with an impressive 5-7, 7-6(2), 7-6(4) win against Italian Andrea Guerrieri in the final.
