Heather Watson wins fifth WTA doubles title in Warsaw; Lucy Shuker claims ITF 1 trophy in Belgium
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Stay updated from the latest successes from the British tennis stars on the WTA, ATP and ITF Tours with four titles in the last week.
Watson shines at Warsaw Open
Heather Watson became a five-time WTA doubles title-winner this weekend – joining forces with Lexus Surbiton Trophy champion Yanina Wickmayer to lift the Warsaw Open women’s doubles trophy.
Watson and Wickmayer overcame home favourites Weronika Falkowska and Katarzyna Piter in the final 6-4, 6-4 as the Brit claimed her first WTA title since her singles win in Acapulco 2020.
Watson – who also made the quarter-final of the singles – had to battle past fellow British duo Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls in a match tie-break 6-2, 5-7, 10-7, before edging past Ankita Raina and Yue Yuan 6-0, 6-7(6), 10-6 in the semis.
Sticking with doubles – Julian Cash made the final of the Atlanta Open with American Robert Galloway.
Cash and Galloway eventually finished runners-up to Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons 7-6(8), 6-4.
Fery and Parker headline ITF performances
On the ITF World Tennis Tour last week – British team Arthur Fery and Stuart Parker were victorious in the doubles event at the M25 Porto.
Fery and Parker defeated Portuguese stars in both the semis and final – starting with a 2-6, 6-3, 10-6 win over Hugo Maia and Tomas Pinho and finishing with a dominant 6-1, 6-3 victory against third seeds Duarte Vale and Diego Fernandez Flores.
This marked Fery’s first ITF doubles crown of the season to date, while adding a third M25 title to Parker’s doubles tally for 2023.
Meanwhile, Aidan McHugh and Anton Matusevich finished runners-up at events in the States and Austria.
Aiming to win back-to-back ITF singles titles, McHugh fell just short at the M25 Edwardsville – narrowly losing to 20-year-old American Quinn Vandecasteele 6-3, 7-6(5).
Matusevich ended his week at the M25 Kramsach as doubles runner-up with Toby Kodat – losing to top seeds Peter Heller and Kai Wehnelt 6-4, 7-4 in the final.
Shuker secures second ITF 1 trophy of the season
Thirteen years on from securing the first ITF 1 women’s singles title of her career at the Belgian Open, Lucy Shuker secured her second ITF 1 doubles title of 2023 at the same tournament as the British No.1 earned herself a timely boost ahead of the Lexus British Open.
Shuker partnered USA’s Dana Mathewson to their eighth career title together after the second seeds won all three of their matches in Namur in deciding match tie-breaks, defeating top seeds Momoko Ohtani of Japan and Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 in the final.
En route to the title Shuker and Mathewson, who are also teaming up at this week’s Lexus British Open, beat Germany’s Katharina Kruger and Japan’s Saki Takamuro 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 in the semi-finals, giving Shuker some recompense after bowing out to Takaumuro in her opening singles match.
Breakwell lifts title in Turin
Elsewhere, Abbie Breakwell also overturned the tournament seeding to claim the third senior women’s singles title of her career at the Trofeo Della Mole in Turin.
Second seed Breakwell beat top seed Marianna Lauro 6-1, 6-2 to claim the ITF Futures title after dropping just one set in her three matches, to French third seed Sandrine Cauderon Paulin.
20-year-old British No.3 Breakwell will now bid to defend both her women’s singles and doubles titles at this week’s Nottingham Futures, which takes place alongside the Lexus British Open.
