Paralympics medals, Brits star at US Open & Jan Choinski lifts ATP Challenger title
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Paralympics, US Open and a whole host of British tennis titles. Catch up on all the action from the last week on the ATP, WTA and ITF Tours.
Three medals in Paris
There was plenty of success to celebrate at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games as the British team took home three medals (one gold and two silver) in the wheelchair tennis.
Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid completed an historic career Golden Slam, having won all of tennis’s four major titles and now, the Paralympics.
The Brits put in a stunning performance to defeat Japan’s Tokito Oda and Takuya Miki 6-2, 6-1 in the final to secure the gold medal.
For 26-year-old Hewett, it was his first Paralympic gold, while Reid adds a second to his career alongside the singles title at Rio 2016.
Hewett then went on to face 18-year-old Oda in the singles final as well, but this time the Japanese star came out on top, winning 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in a highly competitive final. He’s now a two-time singles silver medallist (2016 & 2024).
In the quad doubles it was also silver for ParalympicsGB’s Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade.
In the final, the Brits were defeated by world No.1 and No.2 Niels Vink and Sam Schroder 6-1, 6-1.
Lapthorne left Paris as a four-time medallist with three silvers (2012, 2016 & 2024) and one bronze (2016), while for 22-year-old Slade, it marked a first medal on his Paralympic debut.
ParalympicsGB have now won 19 medals in wheelchair tennis throughout the history of the Games.
Draper & Stojsavljevic steal headlines in New York
It was also a week to remember in New York as Brit’s Jack Draper reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open.
The 22-year-old fought his way to the final four without dropping a set, including wins over Zhizhen Zhang, Tomas Mahac and 10th seed Alex de Minaur.
In the semis he took on world No.1 Jannik Sinner in tough conditions out on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Draper battled against a high-quality opponent and sickness before eventually losing out 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-2. Sinner would go on to lift the title on Sunday.
He’s now one of four Brits to have reached the semi-finals of the men’s singles at the US Open during the Open Era and he’s now risen into the ATP top 20 for the first time in his career.
Elsewhere at Flushing Meadows, 15-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic became the first British junior champion in 15 years thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Japanese junior world No.10 Wakana Sonobe.
She’s the first British girl since Heather Watson in 2009 to clinch the trophy and is now the youngest player to win the girls’ title at Flushing Meadows since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2006.
Choinski wins third Challenger trophy
28-year-old Jan Choinski won the biggest singles title of the week at the Tulln Challenger last week.
After knocking out top seed Vit Kopriva in the opening round 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, Choinski fought his way to the final without dropping another set.
With the title on the line, Choinski beat 22-year-old Austrian Lukas Neumayer 6-4, 6-1 in just an hour and 10 minutes to seal a third Challenger title of his career.
The win sees him jump 100 places in the ATP rankings to world No.176.
Four ITF titles for the Brits
British stars took home four ITF World Tennis Tour titles last week.
Starting in Austria, Emily Appleton claimed the doubles title at the W75 Vienna alongside France’s Estelle Cascino.
Second seeds Appleton and Cascino defeated Ukrainian fourth seeds Maryna Kolb and Nadiya Kolb 6-4, 7-6(1) in the final.
Appleton has now won four $75k ITF titles this season alone.
Sarah Beth Grey and Portugal’s Matilde Jorge took home the W35 Leiria title over the weekend with a 7-6(1), 6-2 win over Bianca Fernandez and Radka Zelnickova in the final.
James Story won his first professional singles trophy at the M15 Monastir.
The 23-year-old beat three seeded players en route to the title, including a comeback win over Samir Hamza Reguig in the final 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-4.
Finally, British pair Adam Jones and Matthew Summers were crowned champions at the M15 Tashkent after they beat Adil Kalyanpur and Vishnu Vardhan 6-1, 3-6, 10-7 in the final.
There was also a singles final for Jay Clarke at the M25 Bali, but the 26-year-old was eventually defeated by top seeded Australian Omar Jasika 6-4, 6-1.
Cox breaks new ground in Switzerland
Oliver Cox won his first ITF 3 quad wheelchair tennis doubles title at the Sion Open.
Teaming up with Fabio Freitas, the British, Brazilian duo won both the games in their round-robin competition in straight sets to clinch the trophy.
Cox also made the semi-finals of the singles but lost to France’s Justin Michel 6-2, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Andrew Penney made the semi-finals of the men’s singles and doubles, while Cornelia Oosthuizen made the final four in the women’s singles and doubles.
