Five doubles semi-finalists on the WTA & ATP Tours & Emily Webley-Smith grabs first title of the year
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Catch up on all the biggest news and results from the British tennis players competing around the world as Olivia Nicholls, Emily Appleton, Lloyd Glasspool, Julian Cash and Jamie Murray made semi-finals and Emily Webley-Smith captured a doubles title.
Five British doubles reach tour-level semi-finals
Five British players reached WTA and ATP Tour semi-finals in an impressive week for the doubles stars.
In Dubai, British No.1 Olivia Nicholls and Australian Olivia Gadecki put in strong performances to beat Xinyu Jiang and Fang-Hsien Wu, followed by Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi – both in deciding match tie-breaks.
In the semi-finals of the Abu Dhabi Open, Nicholls and Gadecki were eventually defeated by fourth seeds Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai 6-1, 6-4 to bring an end to their title hopes.
The 30-year-old British star is now up to world No.40 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash continued their impressive start to 2025 with a semi-final run at the ATP 500 in Rotterdam.
The Brits – who have already won a title in Brisbane and made the Australian Open quartyer-finals together – knocked out second seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the quarters 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final four.
However, it wasn’t to be for the unseeded duo, eventually losing out to Australian Open runners-up and eventual champions Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-6(1), 7-6(3).
Emily Appleton enjoyed her best result of the season so far in Cluj – teaming up with Qianhui Tang to make the semi-finals of the WTA 250 event.
Fourth seeds Appleton and Tang knocked out home favourites Simona Halep and Anna Bogdan in the opening round followed by a gutsy 6-7(3), 6-3, 10-8 victory against Maja Chwalinska and Anastasia Detiuc.
Their run came to an end against Belgium’s Magali Kempen and Czech Republic’s Anna Siskova 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 in the semis.
Meanwhile in Dallas, Jamie Murray returned to winning ways at the ATX Open with John Peers – making their first semi-final of the season.
Murray and Peers saved four match points to beat fellow Brit Luke Johnson and his partner Sander Arends in the quarter-finals 4-6, 7-6(9), 10-6, but were eventually defeated by American duo Christian Harrison and Evan King 6-4, 6-2.
Murray jumps two places in the rankings to world No.23.
Harris enjoys semi-final run in India
Lexus GB Davis Cup star Billy Harris was the player of the week on the ATP Challenger Tour fr the Brits – making a semi-final in India.
At the Chennai Challenger, Harris defeated Eric Vanshelboim, Ergi Kirkin and Timofey Skatov all in straight sets to book a place in the final four.
There he met Sweden’s Elias Ymer, who managed to get the better of Harris in two close tie-break sets 7-6(5), 7-6(2).
Johannus Monday also made a Challenger quarter-final in Tenerife – adding to an impressive run of form that has seen him win four of the last seven tournaments he’s played.
Webley-Smith clinches doubles title
Britain’s sole title last week came from doubles specialist Emily Webley-Smith, competing at the W35 Herrenschwanden.
Webley-Smith and Ekaterina Ovcharenko overcame Miriam Bolkvadze and Sinja Kraus in the final 7-6(1), 2-6, 11-9 to take home the title.
It marks the first title of the year for the 40-year-old British star and the 27th doubles trophy of her career so far.
In other standout British performances, Aidan McHugh finished runner-up in the M15 Huamantla doubles with Charles Barry – losing out to Pranav Kumar and Noah Schachter in the final 6-3, 7-6(2).
Shuker reaches Rotterdam final
Lucy Shuker secured the outstanding result of the week among Britain’s leading wheelchair players after reaching her second women’s doubles final of 2025 at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam.
British No.1 Shuker and Colombia’s Angelica Bernal edged out Jinte Bos and Lizzy de Greef 7-6(5) 5-7, (10-6) to book their place in their first final as a doubles partnership, but a second all-Duitch challenge proved a more difficult proposition as Shuker and Bernal finished runners-up to top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Diede de Groot 6-2, 6-2.
