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Another great week for British men’s tennis

Phil James
Phil JamesTennis

By Phil James

As Andy flew out to Montreal for his first tournament back after being crowned Wimbledon champion, many of the other British men were in action around the globe.

Fresh from his title in Gstaad with John Peers, Jamie Murray was the only British representative on the clay of the ATP250 bet-at-home cup in Kitzbuhel .

Murray and Peers were not seeded in Austria and had to overcome second seeds Bracciali and Polasek in round one where they recovered from being bageled in the  second set and being 0-6 down in the Champion’s Tie-break.

They then beat the Klaasen and the in-form Robin Hasse in round two before losing to eventual winners Emmrich and Kas in the semis.

Also hoping to continue their fine run were Colin Fleming and Jonny Marray who lost last week’s BB&T Atlanta Open final.

‘Flemarray’ stayed on the hard courts of North America for the ATP500 Citi Open in Washington DC but were beaten in the first round by fellow Brit Dominic Inglot and his Filipino partner Treat Huey.

Due to the high quality field neither pair were seeded and it was a shame that they met in the first round, a match which Inglot and Huey won 6-4, 6-7, 10-7, and thus beating Fleming and Marray for the second time this year.

Inglot and Huey followed up that win with another impressive victory over Begemann and Bopanna, who had eliminated top seeded Peya and Soares in round one.

Similar to Jamie Murray, Inglot and Huey then lost in the semi-final to eventual winners Benneteau and Zimonjic.

Fleming has a change of partner for the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Montreal, playing with Andy Murray rather than Jonny Marray, and they face the Citi Open champions, Benneteau and Zimonjic, in round one.

Inglot also has a change of partner for Montreal, teaming up with Jerzy Janowicz, and has a rematch of his Citi Open quarter-final, facing Begemann and Bopanna in round one.

There was also heavy British involvement in the Challenger series tournaments this week.

At the Odlum Brown Van Open in Vancouver, Dan Evans competes in only his third ever Challenger final tonight against Vasek Pospisil who is ranked 89th in the world.

In an extremely impressive week, 248th-ranked Evans has beaten:

Evgeny Donskoy (1) – ranked 84; Amir Weintraub – ranked 209, Olivier Rochus (8) –ranked 146; Bobby Reynolds (5) – ranked 138.

Fresh from winning the Lexington Challenger last week, James Ward received a special exempt entrance into Vancouver but lost in round two to Greg Jones.

Due to being in the final in Vancouver, Evans himself now gets a special exempt entrance into next week’s Comerica Bank Challenger in California while the higher-ranked Ward has to go through qualifying.

Ward won his first two qualifying matches yesterday and today and will face John-Patrick Smith tonight for a place in main draw.

Meanwhile on the clay of the Open Castilla y León in Segovia, there was another British Champion.

Birmingham-born Jamie Delgado and his partner Frank Moser were top seeds, while Skupski brothers, Ken and Neal, were the number two seeds.

Delgado and Moser lost in the semi-final to end hopes of an all-British final but the Skupski brothers avenged them beating Elgin and Ignatik to take the title.

Ken Skupski and Jamie Delgado were partners for years but decided to go their separate ways earlier this year with both men changing partners frequently.

Though we were denied an intriguing reunion it seems Ken may have found a new long-term partner.

He and Neal have played several tournaments together this year, winning two futures tournaments and now two Challengers.

Younger brother Neal’s doubles ranking has rocketed from outside the top 1000 in February to 244 before this tournament and should now rise inside the top 200.

He should soon have a ranking high enough to gain entrance to some of the main ATP tournaments.