Lumsden and McDonald claim doubles victory on team debut in Glasgow
The fifth event of our 2023 Performance Competition Calendar came to an end at the Scotstoun Tennis Centre over the weekend with three Brits in finals action at the women’s ITF event.
Brits Heather Watson and Sonay Kartal, made it through to the singles semi-finals on Friday. Second seed Kartal faced the fourth seed, Belgium’s Marie Benoit, and had her chances, serving for the match at 6-5 in the third set and 4-3 up in the tie break, but lost the last four points with the final score ending 1-6, 6-0, 7-6(4). Meanwhile, wildcard Watson advanced to the final after defeating Croatia’s Lea Boskovic in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(4).
In Saturday’s final the former British No.1 Watson lost out to the Benoit 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours 20 minutes. In the third set, Watson held for 1-all but the exertions of the week caught up with her, as the Belgian ran out the last five games of the match from there. Benoit demonstrated determination and grit throughout the week, winning four of her five matches from being a set down, with three of those matches being against British players.
It was a clash between Czech Republic and Great Britain in the women’s doubles final. Maia Lumsden and Stirling National Academy player and top 10 junior in the world Ella McDonald took on Dominika Salkova and Anna Siskova in Fridays final and defeated the top seeds 3-6, 6-1, (13-11) to win the W25 Glasgow doubles trophy on their team debut. The British pair won three match tie breaks this week and saved three match points in the final. This was 17-year-old McDonald's first ITF World Tour title and Lumsden’s seventh ITF World Tour doubles title.
Reflecting on her first pro title win, McDonald said: “I’m feeling really good, great week and my first pro title. Thanks to Maia for playing with me.” Lumsden added “We had a lot of close matches, quite a few tie breaks so we were confident going into this one.”
LTA Tournament Director Mike Cohen said: “This week’s women’s World Tennis Tour $25,000 tournament in Glasgow has been a huge success, once again we have seen a very strong women’s draw, with a number of players having been inside the top 50 in the world during their careers.
"It was great to see so many people come down to Scotstoun Tennis Centre and back the Brits. Congratulations to Maia and Ella for having a fantastic week, lifting the W25 Glasgow doubles trophy.”
View our full 2023 Performance Competitions Calendar:
