Keeping up with the Brits: 08 November, 2021

10 titles and five runners-up at tournaments all over the world – weeks in tennis don’t get much better than that.

Catch up on all the latest action and see where the Brits are playing this week.

What happened in British tennis this week?

We begin in Paris, where a number of the Brits competed in the final ATP Masters 1000 event of the season.

Cam Norrie won his 50th match of the season after beating Reilly Opelka 6-3, 6-4 in the second round, but bowed out in the third after a strong display from Taylor Fritz.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares continued their fine form coming off the back of a title win in St Petersburg, to reach the semi-finals in Paris. They went out to Michael Venus and Tim Puetz 7-5, 6-3, after the New Zealand, German pairing also defeated Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram.

Hewett completes Masters double

It was a week to remember for Alfie Hewett, who won the Masters double in Orlando at the end-of-season championships.

Hewett battled through a tough opening group, which included his doubles partner Gordon Reid, to eventually reach the singles final. Here, he faced second seed Gustavo Fernandez and came out on top, 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-4, to win his second Masters singles title.

The day before, Hewett and Reid wrapped up their second UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters title to add to their calendar Grand Slam and Paralympic silver medal – beating Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer 6-4, 6-1.

Dart and O'Mara sweep Challenger titles

Continuing the champions round up – Billie Jean King Cup star, Harriet Dart, won her first title of the season at the WTA 125 Dow International doubles event with Asia Muhammad.

The second seeds held off a comeback from Peangtarn Plipuech and Aldila Sutjiadi in the final, edging a nail-biting match 6-3, 2-6, 10-7 to secure the title.

Staying with the doubles action, Jonny O’Mara and Roman Jebavy won the ATP Challenger in Eckental without dropping a set.

The 26-year-old won his seventh career Challenger doubles event with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Ruben Bemelmans and Daniel Masur in the championship match. The win will be a big confidence boost for O’Mara as he prepares to represent Team Scotland in the upcoming Schroders Battle of the Brits.

Champion in Estonia

Shifting to ITF action, Katie Swan was crowned singles champion at the W25 Haabneeme in only her second tournament since August.

Swan showed signs that she’s returning to top form as she claimed her third ITF title without losing a set. In the semi-final she got the win over fellow Brit Katie Boulter, who was forced to retire with injury and then followed it up with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win against Ekaterina Shalimova in the final.

Johnson and Patten win maiden titles

Luke Johnson and Henry Patten won their first career titles at M15 events in Ithaca and Fayetteville.

Johnson, won his maiden title after picking up big wins over second seed Vasil Kirkov in the semi-finals and American Cannon Kingsley. Johnson showed nerves of steel to come through a tight three set battle 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) over Kingsley in the final.

This came after Johnson lifted the doubles title only the day before, teaming up with Kirkov to complete the biggest week of his career to date.

"It’s a great feeling to have won my first singles title," said Johnson. "My coaches and I have been working hard for a long time now and it’s nice to be able to tick off that goal of mine. This is just a stepping stone to hopefully bigger things but winning my first title is something I’ll always remember.

Patten on the other hand came into Fayetteville unseeded but fought past Charles Broom before sealing his championship victory over Alfredo Perez 7-6(2), 6-3.

After claiming his maiden trophy, he said: "Winning my first ITF title this year was a huge milestone for me - I proved to myself that I have developed my game since graduating college.”

Patten almost repeated Johnson’s double title performance, but he and Broom were beaten in the final 6-4, 6-2 by third seeds George Goldhoff and Tadeas Paroulek.

Doubles delight for Murray Sharan and Gray

Samantha Murray Sharan continued the British success at the W60 Nantes. The 34-year-old teamed up with Jessika Ponchet to cruise to the women’s doubles title. In a final that saw three Brits in action, Murray Sharan and Ponchet beat Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls 6-4, 6-2.

Rounding off the ITF Tour wins was Jonathan Gray, who won his third M15 title in Torello alongside Yann Wojcik, beating Marcos Brugnerotto and Luigi Sorrentino 3-6, 7-5, 10-5 in the final.

But the brilliant Brits didn’t stop there – there were also finals for Lloyd Glasspool, who narrowly missed out on the ATP Challenger Bergamo title with Harri Heliovaara, as well as Stuart Parker at the M25 Meitar and Ryan Storrie at the M15 Heraklion.

Photo of the week