Jamie Murray and Michael Venus finish runners-up in Cincinnati; Ryan Peniston lifts career-first ATP Challenger title
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It was another memorable week for British tennis stars, with titles being picked up across the ATP, WTA, ITF and wheelchair tours. Catch up with all the latest news as the Brits embarked on another week of success across the US and on home soil.
Murray and Venus finish runners up in Cincinnati
Jamie Murray & Michael Venus continue to go from strength-to-strength this season as the British, Kiwi pair reached their first Masters 1000 final of the year, and their first as a partnership.
Murray and Venus eased past a strong field of opponents, including joint world No.1’s Neal Skupski & Wesley Koolhof and Italian singles stars Lorenzo Musetti & Lorenzo Songeo to reach the final two in Cincinnati.
However, in a hard-fought final showdown against Argentinian duo Maximo Gonzalez & Andres Molteni, Murray and Venus fell just short in the deciding tie-break, eventually missing out on the title in a 3-6, 6-1, 11-9 defeat. The pair will now turn their attention to the final Grand Slam of the season at the US Open, where they enter the draw as strong contenders to go the distance.
Peniston lifts maiden ATP Challenger title
Ryan Peniston secured a career-first ATP Challenger title last week at the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger event.
After breezing through to the semi-finals, the Brit had to dig deep to overcome France’s Arthur Cazaux and eventually booked his ticket to the final with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory. The 27-year-old rounded off an impressive week with a triumphant 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Leandro Riedi to lift the crown and mark a significant milestone in his career.
The Winnipeg Challenger event also saw the return of Jack Draper, who played his first tournament since May after missing the grass court season due to a shoulder injury. The 21-year-old recorded straight set victories over Rio Noguchi and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski before falling short to Cazaux in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Liam Broady reached the semi-final of the tournament and has now sky-rocketed to a new career-high ranking of world No.108, while Billy Harris also reached the quarter-finals.
Doubles delight for Burrage in California
Jodie Burrage’s outstanding year continues as the British No.2 got her hands on a first WTA doubles title alongside Australia’s Olivia Gadecki at the Golden Gate Open at Stanford.
Kicking off the week in style, the British, Australian duo beat Sophie Chang & Heather Watson 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarter finals. They then eased past Alexis Blokhina & Connie Ma and Carmen Corley & Ivana Corley in straight sets to secure a spot in the final two.
Facing their toughest challenge yet in the form of Hailey Baptiste & Claire Liu, the British, Australian partnership fought hard in the deciding match tie-break 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 10-8 to eventually clinch their first doubles title together.
Brits sweep up titles in Aldershot
It’s safe to say the Brits stole the headlines at the W25 and M25 events in Aldershot last week with Sarah Beth Grey, Arthur Fery, Johannus Monday and Emile Hudd all collecting silverware at the ITF events.
The men’s singles draw saw Fery pick up his second title of the season, after a dominant display across the week. The top seed knocked out fellow compatriots Monday and Henry Searle to reach the final where he secured a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Toby Samuel to wrap up the title without dropping a set.
Meanwhile, doubles delight just keeps on coming for Monday & Hudd who lifted their third ITF doubles title together since joining forces last month. The pair sailed past three all-British duos before edging Fery & Anton Matusevich 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.
Victory also came for Grey in the women’s doubles draw after she and Destanee Aiava ousted Japan’s Erina Hayashi & Saki Imamura 6-4, 6-3 in the final to take the crown.
Cox and Pennington-Bridges earn double victory in Lithuania
Moving onto the wheelchair tennis action, Oliver Cox and Dan Pennington-Bridges collected the quad doubles title at the Vilnius Open in Lithuania. Facing the Israeli duo of Roy Abergil & Haim Lev, the British pair came back from a set and 5-1 down to fend off three match points before stealing the second set.
Having forced a deciding match tie-break Cox and Pennington-Bridges took the edge to eventually secure their first doubles title together, 2-6, 7-5, 11-9. This win marked a career-first senior title for Cox, while Pennington-Bridges adds the Vilnius Open trophy to the quad doubles title he picked up at the Nottingham Futures event at the beginning of the month.
