British Tennis Watch – Week 13

In this long-running series of articles, we will be reviewing all the action in the world of British tennis, from Grand Slams to Juniors.

We’ll be trying to cover all manner of tennis at various different levels, with a focus on British prospects. For now, though, we will be keeping our focus on Singles action, and putting Doubles to one side except for big events such as the Grand Slams.

The article is split into different levels – these levels are based on the number of points available for the winner of each tournament. For example, a tournament at ‘250 Level’ means there are 250 ranking points available for the winning player.

Please let us know if we miss anyone off by emailing me at tennis@p.ublished.com.

Week 13 – 27 March–2 April

In this week’s edition:
Jodie Burrage claims her first title of the year
George Loffhagen earns a shock title in India
Jan Choinski makes the semis at the Mexico Challenger.

ATP/WTA Main Tour

1000 Level

Everyone was eliminated from the Miami Open last week, so there were no Brits to be found in top-level action on either tour this week!

ATP Challenger Tour / WTA/ITF Futures Tour

125 Level

There were two options available to Brits at the very highest level of the ATP Challenger Tour – events in Mexico and Italy drew British interest, and it was in Mexico City where the best of British action could be found.

Jan Choinski, 26, ranked just outside the top 200, reached the semi-finals of the CH125 in Central America to reach a career-high ranking of 194th in the world. The highlight of his run to the semis was a battling comeback victory over second seeded Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, who had won just two of his previous eleven matches. Choinski’s run was ended eventually by Argentinian Thiago Tirante, but the Brit, who represented Germany from 2011 to 2018 before switching allegiances at the start of 2019, is inching closer to being in contention for Wimbledon qualification, or perhaps a wildcard.

Elsewhere, at the CH125 in Italy, neither Ryan Peniston nor Billy Harris were able to make an impact on the clay-court event in Sanremo. Both men were ousted in the first round: Harris won just three games, while Peniston was pegged back from a set to the good.

80 Level

TITLE ALERT!

After several weeks trying her hand at WTA International events and Grand Slam qualifiers, Jodie Burrage dropped down a level to an ITF80 this week in France, and was duly rewarded with her first title of the year.

There were several other Brits involved in France as well, with Anna Brogan and Emily Appleton both successfully navigating the qualifying draw to join Burrage, Eden Silva, and Katie Boulter in the main draw – only Freya Christie was unable to make it out of qualifying.

In the first round, Boulter won the battle of two Brits against Appleton 5-7 6-4 6-4 in a tightly-fought contest, Burrage won her first match with ease, while Silva and Brogan saw their tournaments come to an early end. Boulter ended up a victim of a home favourite in the second round as she was duly dispatched by a local qualifier, Margaux Rouvroy, who eventually made the semi-finals. So after Burrage’s 6-3 6-1 victory in the second round, she was left alone to fly the British flag.

Burrage fought through three three-set matches to clinch the title in impressive style. She came back from a set down to beat Greet Minnen of Belgium in the quarter-finals, doing so for the first time this year; then she did it again after dropping the first set against former world number 12 Yanina Wickmayer – another Belgian – to win 5-7 6-3 6-3; and in the final, she yet again dropped the first set before powering back against Italian top seed Lucia Bronzetti 3-6 6-4 6-0 to clinch her first title of the year. The result sees Burrage, 23, climb to a career-high ranking of 109th.

Our Brit on Aussie soil continued her consistent competition Down Under with her sixth Australian tournament of the year this week in Canberra. Naiktha Bains was unseeded at the ITF80 this week, but reached the quarter-finals before coming up against top seed Olivia Gadecki, who she met at the start of February. Bains won four more games than she did in the 6-0 6-1 loss that she suffered in Feb, but was unable to overturn the result, going out 6-1 6-4 to Gadecki.

70 Level

Only Harriet Dart was in action at ITF70 level this week, and she was over in Slovenia after her failed attempt at qualifying for the Miami Open the previous week. Dart had a decent week, entering the tournament as the second seed and reaching the quarter-finals, but was beaten by eventual finalist Maria Timofeeva, 19, despite winning the first set.

25 Level

TITLE ALERT!

As always, there was a glut of British men in action at ITF25 events across the globe this week, but the best action came in India, where George Loffhagen secured a somewhat unexpected title in Mysuru despite being drawn against the top seed in the first round. Loffhagen, 21, made the final in Loughborough back in January, and journeyed outside the UK for the first time this year last week for a run of events on the subcontinent.

Vietnamese top seed Nam Hang Ly was beaten 6-3 6-4 in the first round, and Loffhagen didn’t face a single breakpoint for the entire match. Filled with confidence, he breezed past a Korean qualifier 6-0 6-1 in the second round before dispatching two Indian opponents in straight sets to reach the final. Up against Australian eighth seed Blake Ellis, Loffhagen dropped the first set but came back to force the match to a decider, before emerging triumphant in the final set tiebreak 7-4.

The win will see George blast into the top 600, which will be a massive new career-high ranking for him. Congratulations George!

Elsewhere, there was a plethora of Brits in action in Trento, Italy, for the ITF25 slightly closer to home. Alastair Gray, as the top seed at the event, reached the final before losing to Swiss opponent Jerome Kym, but there were some promising performances from Anton Matusevich, 21, and Charles Broom, 24, who reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively. Mark Whitehouse, Giles Hussey, Daniel Little, and qualifier Ben Jones all lost in the first round, while George Houghton lost to Jones in the final round of qualifying.

In France, both Sean Hodkin and Tiran Sanghera lost in the final round of qualifying; meanwhile, in Trnava, Slovakia, Ying Hou lost in the first qualifying round.

15 Level

Brits descended upon Egypt this week for the weekly ITF15 events that take place in Sharm El-Sheikh. There were four in qualifying, and two made it out – Max Benaim and Millen Hurrion got the job done, while Freddie Ridout and Anthony Wright lost in the second round of qualifying. Benaim and Hurrion were joined in the main draw by Zach Stephens, again the recipient of a wildcard, and only Hurrion picked up a win, beating the Israeli sixth seed Sahar Simon 6-3 6-3 before losing in the second round.

In Tunisia, there were five Brits in qualifying, with only one emerging: Freddy Blaydes edged past Raffael Schaer via two tiebreaks in the final qualifying round, going one better than compatriot Yujiro Onuma, who fell at the final hurdle. Matthew Rankin, Nicolas Philibert, and Ryan Golesworthy all lost in the second qualifying round. Blaydes was joined in the main draw by wildcard Louis Allen and Henry Searle, who entered the main draw via his junior ranking, but none of the three were able to pick up a first round win.

Finally, Charles Dossetter was unable to capitalise on his qualifying wildcard at the event in Antalya, Turkey – he lost 6-2 6-2 in the first qualifying round.

10 Level

In Egypt, Emilie Lindh’s season continued wonderfully with her second successive final appearance at this level. After taking a couple of weeks out, Lindh stormed to the final but there is some concern following her retirement when she got there – the Brit was a set down and 2-2 in the second before being forced out with injury, so we wish her a speedy recovery. Jasmine Conway also made the quarter-finals here, with Kristina Paskauskas and qualifier Holly Hutchinson losing in the first round. Summer Yardley and Eva Shaw couldn’t get out of qualifying.

A host of youngsters were in action in Tunisia on the women’s side of things at the ITF10 in Monastir, but only the more experienced Amarni Banks was able to pick up any points or wins. Talia Nelson-Gatenby, 17, Ella McDonald, 17, and Mingge Xu, 15, all lost in the first round, with Banks reaching the quarter-finals as the second seed before being beaten in straight sets by Spanish opposition.

Junior Tennis

J100 Level

There was very little action at Junior level this week, with only Imogen Haddad taking part at J100 level. She was in Finland and seeded first, but fell in the quarter-finals to Oliwia Orlinska of Poland in straight sets.

J60 Level

Sorcha Caves obtained a lucky loser spot after losing in the final round of qualifying over at the J60 in Spain, but she took full advantage and was able to put together a three-set victory over local wildcard Carolina Gutierrez in the first round, propelling her to her junior career high in the process. Macy Denney-Richards was unable to emulate her, though – she lost in the first round to a seeded Spaniard.

J30 Level

TITLE ALERT!

Aryan Jit Singh, newly representing Great Britain at 17 years of age after initially flying the flag for India, won a J30 title in Namibia this week as the top seed. It’s a modest achievement given he’s almost no longer eligible for junior competition, but a title is a title.

In Trinidad and Tobago, Daisy Clifford lost in the second round, but elsewhere it was first round defeats across the board – Sergiy Rafiee in Honduras, Aleksandar Borisov and Gabriela Pacheco-Lagoda in Malta, and Sushanth Srinivasan and Aadya Iyer Chadalawada in India.