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Glenys Furness

Jamie Murray loses in Miami, becomes World Number 1

Glenys Furness
Tennis

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By Glenys Furness

  • Jamie Murray lost in opening round
  • Becomes first British World Number one

MIAMI, FLORIDA Jamie Murray becomes world number one in doubles despite losing in the first round. Dom Inglot also lost in round one.

Murray & Bruno Soares were again aiming for a good run at Miami, defending only first round points, the Brit & Brazilian knew a first round win would be enough to secure the world number one ranking if Marcelo Melo did not make the final, as he was defending semi final points. The number one ranking looked a shoe in as they went up 6-3 in the first set. However, the second saw the Brit/Brazilian pairing drop serve and their opponents level the match. Raven Klaasen & Rajeev Ram took the set 3-6 so it would be a match tiebreak to settle things. After taking the lead in the breaker the seeds were ultimately edged out of the match 7-10. Murray would have to wait to see if the number one ranking would be his, as Melo had made round two. However the Brazilian lost in the second round handing the number one spot to Murray.

Dom Inglot & Robert Lindstedt were in action, they drew Roberto Bautista Agut & Viktor Triocki. The Brit/Swedish pair did not get off to a great start and soon found themselves down 3-6. The second set was much much closer and Inglot & Lindstedt very nearly forced a third set, unfortunately it wasn’t to be and they were broken right at the end losing the second set 7-5.

 

Also there were Brits trying to qualify for the main draw. James Ward faced Yuichi Sugita in the first round. The first set was a bit of cat and mouse as neither player made a move, until the Japanese finally managed to break serve, winning the set 6-3. In the second set Ward found rhythm and strolled away with the set, serving up a bagel along the way to take the set 6-0. It would be a deciding set to get into the final qualifying round. The Brit was also still in the ascendancy in the final set, as he broke when needed to seal the win 6-3. Next round Ward faced Bjorn Frantangelo. The American had also survived a three set first round match, the Brit was still playing quite well, however the very young American just edged the match 6-3, 6-3.

Naomi Broady was also trying to qualify for the main draw here and took on Cagla Buyukakcay in the first round. Broady was too strong for the Turk in both sets and soon had a break in each. This was all the Brit needed as she took the match 6-4, 6-3. The second round saw her face Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The Belarussian although a lower seed, played well enough to to break the Brit in each set and overall took the win 6-4, 6-2.

Katie Swan was also here trying to qualify. The first round matchup with Lauren Davis the 16th seed saw the Brit lose the first set to a breadstick 1-6, however from there on Swan played an excellent match to defeat the seeded player 6-4, 6-2, and showed a lot of fight. The next round saw her face Samantha Crawford. Swan showed great maturity during the match and although she eventually lost 2-6, 6-4, 2-6 she will have learnt a lot. Swan proved that she can certainly mix it with the other players on the main tour as she has only just turned professional.

Challenger Roundup

Moving onto the challengers and in Raanana, Israel James Marsalek was in qualifying trying to get to the main draw. In the first round he faced Motvey Radionov a wildcard Israeli, Marsalek broke when required in the first set to seal it 6-4. The second set saw the Brit dominate as he served up a breadstick in the second set 6-1 to make the second round. This round saw him face Frederik Nielsen and the Brit found himself in trouble early on, going down a set 4-6. The second set was not much better for Marsalek and he soon found himself on the wrong end of 2-6 and out of qualifying. Also here was Richard Gabb, in the first round he faced Israeli Yannai Barkai. The Brit dominated the match and was little troubled as he took the match in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. The second round found Gabb facing the seventh seed Lucas Miedler. Gabb did extremely well and edged the first set tiebreak to be ahead 7-6. Miedler was not going away though and in the second set finally managed to break the Brit serve. Building on this the Austrian levelled the match taking the set 6-4. The final set again saw both players going toe to toe until the tiebreak. In the breaker Miedler dominated it, finally securing the win taking the breaker 7-1.

Next week Brits are in Miami, Israel & Leon