Sonay Kartal wins first WTA title; Jacob Fearnley lifts third ATP Challenger crown
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What a week it's been for our British tennis players. From first WTA titles, to third ATP Challenger crowns and a haul of winners across the ITF and Uniqlo Wheelchair Tennis tours, catch up on all the latest British title success from the last week.
Sonay shines in Monastir to clinch maiden WTA title
It’s been a week Sonay Kartal will remember for the rest of her career after the young Brit clinched a career-first WTA title at the Jasmin Open.
Kartal started her campaign in Monastir ranked world No.151 and had to battle through qualifying to reach the main draw. En route to the final, the 22-year-old defeated fifth seed Jacqueline Cristian, Maia Hontama, Yuliia Starodubtseva and Eva Lys and dropped just one set across the week.
The Brit capped off an incredible run with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Rebecca Sramkova in the final to wrap up the title – becoming the 12th British woman to lift a WTA singles trophy.
As a result of lifting her first WTA title, Kartal has now catapulted into the top 100 for the first time, becoming the 21st GB woman to crack the WTA Top 100 since 1975 and the ninth in the last 10 years.
Read more about Kartal’s victory in Monastir
Fearnley secures third Challenger title of the year
Jacob Fearnley continues to go from strength to strength, after he picked up his third ATP Challenger title in four months in Rennes, France.
Fearnley began his campaign with a flawless 6-0, 6-0 victory over former world No.18 Benoit Paire in just 37 minutes before taking down Adrian Mannarino in the quarter-finals and Harold Mayot to book his spot in the final.
There, the 23-year-old pulled off an incredible comeback victory over world No.108 Quentin Halys – fighting back from a set down to eventually secure a 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 win. He adds this trophy to the one he claimed in Lincoln, USA at the beginning of August and the Rothesay Open Nottingham.
Fearnley is climbing his way up the ATP rankings and is knocking on the door of the top 100 after clocking a new career-high ranking of world No.124.
British quartet triumph on ITF Tour
It’s been another successful week on the ITF Tour with four British tennis players claiming silverware across the globe.
Starting off in Tunisia where Ewen Lumsden clinched the M15 Monastir double – marking his first professional singles and second doubles titles.
The 24-year-old eased through to the final where he faced India’s Karan Singh in a bid for the crown. With Lumsden up a set and a break to the good, Singh was unfortunately forced to retire in the second set to gift the Brit the title, 7-5, 2-0.
Meanwhile in the doubles draw, Lumsden teamed up with Frenchman Etienne Donnet. In the final, the pair saw off Erik Arutiunian and Alexander Zgirovsky 7-5, 7-6(6) to be crowned champions.
Moving over to France where British duo Harry Wendelken and Tom Hands had a standout week a the M25+H Plaisir event.
The all-British pair kick-started their campaign by knocking out top seeds Clement Chidekh and Jody Maginley 7-6(5), 6-4 in the opening round, before gliding through to the final where they set up a clash against Mats Rosenkranz and Marat Sharipov.
There, Wendelken and Hands sealed a comprehensive 6-3, 6-4 victory to etch their names on the trophy.
Finally, Max Basing ticked off a significant career milestone after earning his first ITF title at the M25 Bali.
After easing through his first three matches, Basing came through in three sets against fourth seed Damien Wenger before downing eighth seed Tibo Colson 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 to wrap up his maiden professional tennis title.
Oosthuizen and Johns crowned winners on Uniqlo Wheelchair Tour
Cornelia Oosthuizen and Joshua Johns both added to recent Wheelchair Tour titles won in north America and Europe, respectively, as Oosthuizen secured both singles and doubles titles for the second time in three tournaments.
Having regained the British No.2 ranking from Ruby Bishop after reaching the semi-finals of the Sion Open, Oosthuizen beat Frederique Berube Perron 6-1, 6-2 to reach the final of the Birmingham Wheelchair Tennis Classic in Toronto and then defeated the USA’s Maylee Phelps 7-6(0), 4-6. 7-5 to lift her second title in the space of a fortnight.
With Bishop having been denied the opportunity of setting up an all-British women’s singles final after being edged in the semis by Phelps 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, both Brits also featured in the deciding match for the women’s doubles title as Oosthuizen and Phelps beat Bishop and Berube Perron 7-6(2), 6-3.
Andrew Penney also reached his fifth men’s doubles final of the year in Toronto, but after a dominant start he and Canadian partner Thomas Venos had to settle for runners-up after a narrow 6-1, 5-7, 10-3 loss to USA top seeds Casey Ratzlaff and Conner Stroud.
Penney also made an equally dominant start to his singles campaign, beating Portugal’s Jean-Paul Melo 6-0, 6-0, but the second seed then lost out in the last four to third seed Stroud 6-3, 6-2.
Johns lifted his second men’s doubles title in a month at the Plock Cup in Poland, where he both partnered Japan’s Tomoya Tachi to victory and beat Tachi to reach the men’s singles final.
Top seeds Johns and Tachi reeled off three successive straight sets wins to clinch the men’s doubles title, defeating two all-Polish partnerships in the quarter and semi-finals before beating Jakub Dominik Bukala and Mario Roque 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
Johns also reached his fourth successive men’s singles final in four tournaments in Plock, following up a comfortable straight sets wins over Poland’s Czarek Chmura and Adam Kinowski by beating second seed Tachi 6-2, 6-0 in the semis. However, Polish top seed Kamil Fabisiak denied Johns in the singles final 6-2, 6-4.
