Titles for Reid, McKnight and Oluwadare as Lumsden reaches Eastbourne semis

Maia Lumsden and Harriet Dart head into Wimbledon off the back of a WTA 500 semi-final run at the Rothesay International Eastbourne. 

Lumsden and Dart opened their week by upsetting the third seeds Demi Schuurs, ranked 19, and Luisa Stefani, ranked 13, 7-5 6-4.  

In the quarter-finals, the British pair were up against Sloane Stephens and current doubles world number two Su-Wei Hsieh.

Lumsden and Dart took the early advantage, winning the first set 6-3 before dropping the second 1-6. However, the pair found form when it mattered most, winning the third set deciding tie-break 10-1 to move through to the semi-final. 

Lumsden and Dark played Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok for a place in the final, but it wasn’t to be for the Brits as they lost out 1-6 2-6. Ostapenko and Kichenok went on to win the title by beating top seeds Dabrowski and Routliffe in the final. 

Maia and Harriet will be back on court again this week at Wimbledon where they play Italian fifth seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini.

Anna McKnight wins ITF double 

Anna McKnight led a successful week of tennis for Scots on home turf at the Lexus Junior Internationals. 

McKnight posted a perfect week by winning both ITF singles and doubles titles. Despite being unseeded, she put together a string of wins without dropping a set to move into the semi-finals.  

In the final four, she defeated Annabel Wong 7-5 6-1 to set up a final encounter with fourth seed and TS Open Tour leader Teodora Prisadnikova. McKnight dropped the first set but was able to battle back to force a deciding set where she took the lead before Prisadnikova eventually retired at 4-6 6-2 4-1 for McKnight to secure the J60 title. 

Anna also saw success on the doubles court by teaming up with compatriot Aadya Iyer Chadalawada. The pair upset top seeds Eloise Newberry and Teodora Prisadnikova in a match tie-break on their way to the final and beat second seeds Casey Mauro and Isabella Moss 6-7 6-3 10-6 to win the event. 

Meanwhile, in the boys’ draw, Jed McMillan and Finlay Pratt played their way to the doubles title. The Scots upset fourth seeds Jack Berry and Freddie Sharp 6-1 6-3 to set the tone for their campaign.  

McMillan and Pratt battled through a third set match tie-break in the quarter-final before they convincingly toppled first seeds Max Geissinger and Leo Wright 6-2 6-1.  

The pair kept up their form by beating Brandon Ratanavong and Samuel Zlotnik 6-2 6-4 to secure the title. 

In the Tennis Europe event, Becky MacLeod partnered with Eva Haynes to put together a winning run. The second seeds played their way to the final without dropping a set, setting up a meeting with top seeds Paula Cortes Medrano and Milica Sakamoto Milojevic. 

MacLeod and Haynes started strongly, taking the opening set 6-3 before being edged out of the second 6-7. However, the pair were able to bounce back and win the title 10-7 in the third set match tie-break. 

In the boys’ Tennis Europe category, Caelan McKechnie had an impressive week in both singles and doubles events.  

Fourth seed Caelan posted a series of convincing wins in the singles, dropping no sets on his way to the final. However, he came up short against fifth-seeded Edwin James Vopson in the title decider, losing out 6-7 2-6. 

McKechnie was paired up with his singles final opponent in the doubles where they entered the tournament as the top seeds. Despite a slow start in their quarter-final, McKechnie and Vopson came through 0-6 6-4 10-8.  

The pair reached the final after a straight sets final-four win 6-4 6-4 before falling short in the final to Canada’s Alexandre Collin and Czech Republic’s Daniel Soukup 2-6 3-6.

Oluwadare wins British Tour ahead of Wimbledon

Hephzibah Oluwadare was in the winner’s circle after she secured the Lexus British Tour grade one title in Felixstowe. 

Oluwadare was seeded fourth heading into the open event where she bested Georgiana Mititelu 6-2 6-2 before beating Louise Booker 6-3 7-5. Hephzibah kept up her fine form with a convincing win over Amelie Brooks 6-2 6-0 to put her through to the final four. 

Her place in the final was secured following a retirement from her semi-final opponent Violeta Martinez in the second set. Oluwadare then went on to beat Nao Nishino in the final 7-5 6-3 to wrap up a strong week on the grass.

The title came within a day of Hephzibah being awarded the Rising Star accolade at the 2024 Tennis Blacklist Awards. 

Reid wins Eastbourne doubles 

Gordon Reid was in action on the grass in Eastbourne, winning the ITF 2 Series with regular doubles partner Alfie Hewett to secure an incredible 50th title for the duo.

Reid and Hewett dropped only one game on their way to the title, beating Geoffrey Jasiak and Andrew Penney in the semi-finals and beating Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward in the final.