British Tennis Watch – Week 3

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 3 – 17-23 January 2023

In this week’s edition:

Andy Murray rolls back the years at the Australian Open
The first UK Futures event of the year ends with a British winner
Charlie Robertson wins a Junior title to move into the world top 150.

Grand Slam: The Australian Open

The first week of the Australian Open was quite an epic one for British tennis fans, especially fans of Sir Andy Murray, who dug deep to win two extraordinary matches in the opening two rounds of the competition before eventually going out in the third round.

Murray was handed a tough draw against Italian 13th seed Matteo Berrettini in the opening round, a man who had beaten the Scot in each of their last three meetings. And Murray very much did it the hard way, dropping the first two sets and being a break down in the third set and even match point down in the final set before somehow finding the energy and the nous to turn the match around and clinch a phenomenal victory from the jaws of defeat. Many thought Murray, who has undergone several surgeries including a hip and knee replacement, would be expended by the effort against Berrettini in the opening round, but he did it all over again in the second round against home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis – coming back from two sets down to win. Eventually he ran out of steam on Saturday against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, but the Scot very much looked close to his best, and if he continues in this vein for the rest of the year, he could have a very good season.

There was, of course, other British interest at the Australian Open, but no-one made it past the first weekend. Murray was joined in the third round by Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie, but both men fell at the same hurdle, Evans going down to Andrey Rublev in straight sets and Norrie, perhaps disappointingly, losing to unseeded Czech Jiri Lehecka in five, despite being two-sets-to-one up. Elsewhere, young Jack Draper took a set off world number one Rafael Nadal in the first round before losing in four, while Kyle Edmund’s return from injury continues to be slow; he lost against young Italian Jannie Sinner 6-4 6-0 6-2.

Emma Raducanu was the last Brit standing in the women’s draw as she reached the second round after a first round win against German Tamara Korpatsch. Raducanu looked good despite an ankle injury which forced her out of the event in Auckland two weeks ago, but was unable to match fellow youngster Coco Gauff in the second round. Gauff won a tight match 6-3 7-6(4), saving two set points in the second set, and the rivalry between the two of them could be one for the ages – neither of them were born until 2002.

Meanwhile, Harriet Dart was the only other Brit in the women’s draw – she has a tough opening matchup against 32nd seed Jim Teichmann of Switzerland, and went down 7-5 6-1.

ATP Challenger Tour / WTA/ITF Futures Tour

100 Level

With no ‘main tour’ tournaments available outside the Australian Open this week, other Brits had to make do with tournaments at the 100 Level or lower. Jay Clarke was at the CH100 event in Tenerife this week and was the top seed in qualifying, but he continued his record of winning one match at each tournament he’s entered so far this year, winning his opening qualifier but losing out in the final qualifying round to German Lucas Gerch, despite taking the first set.

70 Level

Four British women in action in Estonia and Tunisia this week. In Estonia, Eden Silva and Freya Christie both came through qualifying, picking up vital rankings points in the process. Silva continued her form into the first round, where she picked up an impressive straight-sets victory over Taiwan’s Joanna Garland, but Christie and Maia Lumsden – who was a direct entrant into the main draw – both lost their first round matches. Silva came up against the second seed Chloe Paquet in the second round and gave a good account of herself, going down 6-4 7-6(0).

50 Level

There was a third Challenger tournament available for the Men in Thailand this week, a CH50 once again in Nonthaburi. Stuart Parker, having failed to qualify for the previous two tournaments, finally got himself into the main draw this week after a tight victory in final qualifying over Japanese Makoto Ochi – two tiebreaks were required for Parker, who will be happy with his composure in the big moments. He was joined by Jan Choinski and Paul Jubb in the main draw – Jubb was seeded fifth – but only Choinski reached the second round, where he met Czech Zdenek Kolar, who beat him 6-0 in the decider.

25 Level

TITLE ALERT!

There was a wealth of British interest at the Men’s ITF25 event in Sheffield this week – as there rightly should be for a home event. The real story of the tournament was Daniel Little’s fantastic run to the title after coming all the way through qualifying to clinch the top prize. Little, 25, defeated fellow Brit Charles Broom in the final – the two had actually met in the previous week’s event in Loughborough, with Broom emerging victorious on that occasion – and Little’s win will see him rise almost 200 places in the world rankings, from the 820s to the 620s. Congratulations to Daniel on a fantastic week.

There were some other impressive performances from Brits at the event, too – aside from Broom’s run to the final, top seed Alastair Gray made the semis before losing to Broom, while Aidan McHugh and Daniel Cox both fulfilled their seedings to reach the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere, Felix Gill hightailed it over to Spain after last week’s event in Loughborough, eschewing home soil and taking his chances on the continent instead. It was a good decision – unseeded Gill took out two wildcards and a qualifier en route to the semis before defeating second seed Alexey Vatutin in three sets to reach the final. He eventually lost out to home favourite Daniel Rincon in Sunday’s final.

15 Level

No joy for the British men at the lowest level of professional tennis this week: in Lithuania, Ying Hou lost in the opening round of qualifying, Alexis Canter made the second round of qualifying before being eliminated in France – Sizya Kivanda didn’t make it past the first qualifying round alongside him – and Roy Keegan earned a qualifying wildcard into the event in Tunisia but lost 6-0 6-1 to Frenchman Nicholas Tepmahc.

Junior Tennis

J200 Level

Allegra Davies and Gabia Paskaukas were both in action in India once again, this time in Calcutta. It was Gabia’s turn to have a good week after Davies’ run to the quarters last week: this time, Paskaukas got through an American wildcard in the first round and the seventh seed in the second round before eventually falling to third seed Valery Gynina in the quarters. Davies, meanwhile, was beaten in the final round of qualifying.

Meanwhile, at the J200 in Hammamet, Tunisia, there was one Brit in each of the Boys’ and Girls’ Singles – unseeded 15-year-old Benjamin Gusic Wan won his first tour match of the season but lost in the second round, while his female counterpart, Marelie Raath, also picked up an opening round win – she’ll now move into the top 200 in the junior rankings thanks to that victory.

J100 Level

TITLE ALERT!

There was a J100 event in Glasgow this week with plenty of British interest in both the Boys’ and the Girls’ Singles. In the Boys’ tournament, it was an all-British final as 16-year-old third seed Charlie Robertson got the better of 16-year-old second seed Viktor Frydrych 6-2 6-2 in a one-sided final. The two had actually met once before at another home event in Loughborough in March last year, with Frydrych winning that particular clash. Could it be the start of an interesting rivalry?

Elsewhere in the draw, there were quarter-final runs for Henry Jefferson and Zechariah Hamrouni, while in the Girls’ draw, only Hannah Read made it as far as the quarters, with Jaquelyn Ogunwale, Abby Kelleher and Erin Pearce picking up one win to reach the last 16.

Four British boys entered the round of 64 at the J100 in Turkey this week, but it was only Taymur Muhammad who picked up a victory, winning his opening match to snap a four-match losing streak which stretched back to the end of last season. Wildcard Ersel Kalfaoglu, Kai-Luca Ampaw and Hector Fullone all lost their opening matches.

J60 Level

In Israel, Jadesola Cole was the second seed at the event in Ramat Hasharon and got all the way to the semi-finals before losing out to France’s Justine Bretnacher in three tight sets. Her compatriot Serena Manca fulfilled her sixth seeding by reaching the quarters before ultimately being beaten by the top seed and home favourite Alian Zack.

In Dubai, Maxwell Castle enjoyed a good run to the quarter-finals despite being unseeded – a result that will push him into the top 700 in the world for now.

J30 Level

Rhys Watters won a single match at the event in Cairo, Egypt, before losing in the second round to Greek opposition.

Tennis Europe Events

New to our recap this week, events organised by Tennis Europe are specifically split into three different age groups – U16, U14, and U12, with three different tiers, or categories, in each age group. Results from the ITF Junior Tour count towards a Tennis Europe ranking, but not vice versa, and players based in Europe generally tend to play in Tennis Europe events before moving onto the ITF Junior Tour, so in many regards it is viewed as a lower level of competition for younger players than the above Junior Tour.

U14 Category 1

TITLE ALERT!

Perhaps the reason we’re introducing this level of tennis this week is because one of our brightest young players won a title in Bolton this week in the highest level of competition for U14s. Mark Ceban, who is currently ranked third in the Tennis Europe U14 rankings, was the top seed at the event in Lancashire, tore through the field dropping just one set in five matches – and that was in the final itself. Ceban, born in 2009, defeated American Marcel Batak 2-6 6-3 6-1 in the final to clinch the title, and has now won three of the last four tournaments he has taken part in.

In the Girls’ draw, Hollie Smart was the best performing Brit, reaching the quarter-finals as the tenth seed.

Many of the Brits in action in Bolton this week will head to France for ‘Le Petits As’, a ‘Super Category’ competition at the U14 level which is one of the highlights of the year for the youngsters.