Norrie finishes runner-up in Mexico as six Brits seal career-best titles on ITF Tours
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The Brits at their very best - catch up on the highlights from a brilliant week on tour as 11 British stars lifted trophies.
Cam Norrie’s success in Los Cabos continued last week, with the British No.1 reaching his fourth final of the season. Returning to the tournament where he won the first of his four ATP titles last year, Norrie was eventually defeated by world No.1 Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-0 in the final.
The defending champion returns to world No.11 having beaten Chun-Hsin Tseng, Radu Albot and recording a first victory over world No.9 Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Having come through to win the title, the US Open champion was full of praise for the British No.1. "It was not easy. Cam is an amazing player, so it was really intense," he said. "When you play against Cam, you know that you have to fight for every point.”
It was also a strong week for other Brits on the ATP and WTA tours last week - with Emma Raducanu and Dan Evans reaching the quarter-finals of the Citi Open singles.
British duo victorious in Poland
The biggest British title of the week went to all-British doubles team, Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls, who claimed their second title of the season and best of their careers at the W100 Grodzisk Mazowiecki.
The British duo will this week break into the WTA doubles top 90 for the first time, thanks to a 6-1, 7-6(3) win over top seeds Vivian Heisen and Katarzyna Kawa in the final.
Having survived a three-set clash in the opening round, Barnett and Nicholls cruised their way to the final without dropping another set, despatching French third seeds Estelle Cascino and Jessika Ponchet 6-2, 6-3 in the semi-final.
Swan comes through all-British final in Lexington
It was a week to remember for Katie Swan and Jodie Burrage in the States as they became the first British women to compete in a final – W60 or higher – since 2017 in Lexington.
23-year-old Swan came through as the champion, lifting the biggest title of her career with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 over her fellow Billie Jean King Cup teammate, Burrage.
This takes Swan’s ITF final record to an incredible 11-0 as she closes in on breaking into the world’s top 150 for the first time. Burrage is now just one place off her career high ranking at world No.141.
The titles keep coming on home soil
The British swing of ITF events as part of the LTA’s enhanced competitions calendar reached Nottingham and Foxhills last week, with Brits taking home three out of four titles on offer.
At the latest edition of the M25 Nottingham, 24-year-old Alastair Gray won his third $25k event in Great Britain as he came from a set down to defeat Dan Cox 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the singles final. Gray saw off five Brits in his run to the fifth title of his career.
In the doubles, Luke Johnson and Charles Broom reigned supreme in their first title together as a team. The British team beat Ben Jones and Joe Tyler in the final 6-1, 7-6(1).
Over in Foxhills in the women’s $25k event, Freya Christie won her first title of the season alongside Ali Collins as they defeated in-form British duo Naiktha Bains and Maia Lumsden 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
Monday claims biggest career title
Britain’s Johannus Monday extended his record on the ITF World Tennis Tour to 15-2 on the season as he won the biggest title of his career at the M25 Decatur.
Sixth seed Monday didn’t drop a set all week and rounded off his perfect run with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Ezekiel Clark in the final, ranked almost 250 places above him. The win should hopefully see him rise into the ATP top 600 next week.
Ward and Penney crowned Austrian champions
Capping off a brilliant week of career-best titles for the Brits were wheelchair stars Dahnon Ward and Andrew Penney, who sealed their first ITF 2 trophy in the Austrian Open doubles last week.
After beating the second seeds 11-9 in a nail-biting match tie-break in the semi-finals, Ward and Penney edged past top seeds Takuya Miki and Casey Ratzlaff in the final 6-0, 1-6, 10-7. The victory marked a perfect debut for the British duo competing together for the first time on the Uniqlo Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
Greg Slade and James Shaw finished runners-up in the quad doubles, losing to top seeds Tomas Masaryk and Ymanitu Silva 6-2, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Cornelia Oosthuizen also finished runner-up in the women’s doubles with her Japanese partner Saki Takamuro. The team were defeated by Germany’s Katharina Kruger and Emmanuelle Morch of France 6-0, 6-4.
