Titles for Neal Skupski, Henry Patten and Julian Cash headline six British trophies across the world
• 4 MINUTE READ
Your weekly update on British champions around the world as Neal Skupski, Henry Patten and Julian Cash all reach new milestones amongst six British titles.
Skupski & Koolhof top doubles rankings with Paris win
Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof made it seven ATP titles on the season and third Masters trophy of the season at the Rolex Paris Masters on Sunday.
The now top-ranked doubles team in the world, defeated Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 7-6(5), 6-4 to complete a perfect week in Paris.
Adding to their Masters crowns in Montreal and Madrid, the Paris title means that Skupski and Koolhof have won a third of the biggest prizes on the ATP Tour in only their first season together.
“It’s been great with Wes from day one, really, in Australia,” said the new world No.2 Skupski.
“We just keep growing, we had a few setbacks here and there, but we bounced straight back. We both work hard and we get along very well off the court. I think that’s one of the keys to gel on the court. If we keep putting the work in, things seem to be paying off, and hopefully we can keep going in Turin.”
Patten & Cash's unbeaten run continues
Seven was the lucky number for the Brits last week as Henry Patten and Julian Cash clinched their seventh ATP Challenger title in just six months at the Charlottesville Challenger.
The British duo proved clinical in the early rounds, defeating third seeds Treat Huey and Max Schnur, and Theo Arribage and Luke Johnson in close match tie-breaks. Riding high off their win in Las Vegas the week before – Patten and Cash sealed the trophy with a dominant 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alex Lawson and Atrem Sitak.
The pair continue to rise up the ATP rankings, with Patten now climbing to world No.82 and Cash at No.85.
Brits dominate on ITF Tour
20-year-old Toby Samuel won his second ITF singles title of the year – backing up his maiden trophy at the M25 Roehampton but winning the M15 Fayetteville in the States.
A flawless performance from the sixth seed, saw his battle through all five rounds without losing a set – finishing with a 6-3, 6-3 win over American Learner Tien in the final.
There was more British doubles success on the ITF Tour as well, with Josh Paris, Scott Duncan, Marcus Willis and Will Jansen claiming doubles trophies.
Paris won his second doubles title in as many weeks with Daniel Cukierman at the M25 Jerusalem, defeating fellow Brit Mattias Southcombe and Filip Peliwo 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
Willis clinched his 40th career ITF title with Duncan as the British duo extended their unbeaten run to 10 matches at the M15 Villers-les-Nancy.
17-year-old Jansen successfully defended his title at the M15 Al Zahra with Borys Zgola, just one week on from winning his first senior trophy.
Hewett's finishes runner-up in Oss
Alfie Hewett finished runner-up at the NEC Wheelchair Singles after Japan’s Tokito Oda earned a 6-4, 6-3 victory in Sunday’s final.
Having beaten world No.5 Oda 6-2, 7-5 earlier in the week in the round-robin phase of the tournament, Hewett fought back from 4-1 down to get to within a game of the 16-year-old Masters debutant at 4-3 in the opening set but was never able to get back on even terms.
While Hewett did recover from 2-0 down in the second set to take a 3-2 lead, Oda gained the upper hand in each of the remaining games to succeed two-time champion Hewett as the youngest ever winner of the year-end championship after Hewett claimed the title for the first time in 2017 at the age of 19.
