Henry Patten seals his first ATP title at Grand Prix Hassan II
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Catch up with the latest from the world of British tennis as one doubles star made a breakthrough on the ATP Tour.
Patten ticks off milestone in Marrakech
British doubles star Henry Patten won his first ATP title at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech over the weekend.
Patten teamed up with Finland’s Harri Heliovaara to defeat second seeds Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 3-6, 6-4, 10-4 in the final.
In only their first tournament together, the British-Finnish team saved three break points after going a set down to defeat their opponents in a championship tie-break. Patten and Heliovaara closed out the last six of seven points to see out the Brit’s first tour-level title.
Patten’s last and only other final appearance came at Houston in 2023 alongside fellow Brit Julian Cash. Patten and Cash set the record for ATP Challenger Tour titles in a single season back in 2022 having won 10 trophies in a calendar year.
The 27-year-old has jumped two places in the ATP doubles rankings to world No.61 and is currently the British No.6. He’s one of seven British players currently in the top 100.
Heliovaara has now won four of his five career titles with British players, having previously partnered Lloyd Glasspool to trophies in Marseille, Hamburg and Adelaide.
Hussey, Clarke & Jones amongst title-winners
The Brits won three titles on the ITF Tour last week. 26-year-old Giles Hussey once again found his name amongst the champions last week as the only British player to lift a singles trophy.
Top seed Hussey came back from a set down to seal the M15 Monastir crown with a 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Slovakia’s Lukas Pokorny in the final.
The win marks Hussey’s third successive ITF singles title – adding to his victories at the M15 Les Franqueses del Valles and M15 Sharm ElSheikh. The British star is currently on a 15-match winning streak.
Elsewhere, Anton Matusevich also made the singles final at the M25 Reus, but lost out to Niciola Kuhn 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-3.
Jay Clarke continued to build his doubles trophy tally for the season at the M25 Hammamet alongside France’s Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine.
The British-French duo closed out the week without dropping a set – finishing with a 6-3, 6-4 win over second seeds Aleksandr Lobanov and Aziz Ouakaa in the final.
This is Clarke’s fourth doubles title this season so far and his second in Hammamet.
Britain’s Ben Jones won the M25 Sharm ElSheikh men’s doubles title with Switzerland’s Jakub Paul over the weekend.
Jones and Paul defeated Grigoriy Lomakin and Ilia Simakin 6-2, 6-2 in the final to secure the Brit’s first title of the season.
Shuker & Cox star on wheelchair tours
Ahead of the ITF Super Series Japan Open starting this week, British No.1 Lucy Shuker made the women’s doubles final at the South Korea Open with China’s Zhenzhen Zhu.
Shuker and Zhu eventually finished runners-up to second seeds Xiahui Li and Ziying Wang 6-1, 6-2.
This was Shuker’s third successive final having recently won titles at the Busan Open and Daegu Open.
Oliver Cox also finished as runner-up at the Swedish Open – losing the quad singles final to Jerome De Meyere 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
