Cincinnati semis for Murray, McKechnie wins at Wimbledon, Connel shines in US

Jamie Murray made a deep run at the Cincinnati Open Masters 1000 event. Murray teamed up with Croatia’s Ivan Dodig - who reached a career-high doubles ranking of two in 2023 - for only the second time to play their way to the semi-finals. 

The first round saw Murray and Dodig get past singles stars and regular doubles partners Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov 6-3 7-6.  

In the second round, Murray and Dodig were up against fifth seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori. The Italian duo have been on form recently having reached the final of Roland Garros, but Murray and Dodig were too good as they edged the match 7-5 7-6. 

In the quarter-finals, the Scottish-Croatian duo faced Arthur Fils and Nicolas Jarry in a tight clash. Despite losing the first set 2-6, Murray and Dodig hung on in the second to win 7-6(5), forcing a third-set tie-breaker where they eventually prevailed 10-6. 

Murray was playing in his second Masters 1000 of the 2024 season in what proved to be a dramatic showdown for a spot in the final against Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic. 

Murray and Dodig saved a set point to clinch the first set 7-6(6), but the match was levelled when Arevalo and Pavic bounced back to take the second in a tie-break.  

A place in the final was decided by a match tie-break which saw Arevalo and Pavic pull through 6-7 7-6 10-5 to end Murray and Dodig’s strong week. 

The pair will face off against each other tomorrow as Jamie teams up with Paris 2024 Olympic gold medalist John Peers, taking on Dodig and Adam Pavlasek at the ATP Winston Salem Open. 

McKechnie wins at Wimbledon 

Scottish junior Caelan McKechnie was among the winners at the 2024 edition of the Play Your Way to Wimbledon Finals event. 

Caelan, who won Tennis Europe events in Dublin last month, competed on the iconic Wimbledon grass courts to take home the 14U singles title. 

Caelan put a strong week of tennis together to make his way to the final without dropping a set. In the final he played Harry Mitchell, who had made an impressive run to the final, defeating Scot Dominik Czopek on in 14-12 match tie-break in the quarter-final. 

Caelan managed to keep up his top form in the title decider to win another straight sets match 6-4 6-4 to be crowned this year’s Play Your Way to Wimbledon Finals champion.

Connel reaches ITA final 

Jamie Connel continues to thrive in the US, putting himself among some of the best players on the college circuit.  

Connel competed in the ITA National Summer Championships, where he finished as runner-up while representing Florida State University. 

He travelled to the University of Memphis to play athletes from other universities who had been competing on the ITA tour over the summer.  

Seeded second, Connel powered through his first couple of rounds in straight sets before defeating eighth seed Harry Rock 6-2 6-4 to advance to the  semi-finals. 

There he dispatched fourth seed Patorn Hanchaikul from the University of Michigan 6-3 6-1 to give himself a shot at the championship. 

It wasn’t to be in the final for Jamie as he lost out 3-6 3-6 to top seed Kenta Miyoshi from the University of Illinois. 

Jamie returns to Florida State University in Tallahassee where he enters his fourth year. 

West of Scotland win Tea Cup 

The 18U Tea Cup took place over the weekend at Giffnock Tennis Club, featuring North, East and West of Scotland juniors competing over two days to decide this year’s Inter-County Championships. 

The format sees 18U juniors compete in a mixed dual-match event involving boys' singles, girls' singles, boys’ and girls’ doubles as well as mixed doubles. 

The West squad defended their 2023 title with an 11-2 win over the East of Scotland and another 11-2 win over the North of Scotland over the two days.  

The West team consisting of Liam O’Brien, Tristan Mills, Lucas Nolte, Callum McGinn, Anna McKnight, Emma Barlow, Poppy Bonar and Elisa Gibson were led by team captain Jordan Gray. 

Meanwhile, the North of Scotland secured second place by beating East 8-5.