By Glenys Furness
- Jamie Murray & Neal Skupski claim the doubles title in Arizona
- Brits were the top seeds
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, USA – Jamie Murray & Neal Skupski were the top seeds in the Challenger event. The Brits were pushed hard but lifted the trophy.
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After an early exit in Indian Wells, Jamie Murray travelled across to Arizona. The Brit teamed up with fellow Brit Neal Skupski and were the top seeds in the Challenger event. In the first round Murray & Skupski were drawn against wildcard pairing Jason Jung & Mitchell Krueger.
The Brits started well and broke the serve of the Taiwanese/American pairing. Murray & Skupski held on to their serve and took the set. In the second set Jung & Krueger were playing better and forced a tiebreak. The top seeds held on to take the win and move into the quarter-finals 6-3, 7-6(4).
In the quarter-final the Brits were against Marcus Daniell & Wesley Koolhof. The Kiwi/Dutch pairing stayed with the top seeds and forced a tiebreak. Daniell & Koolhof edged the tiebreak and were in the lead. Murray & Skupski fought back well in the second set and secured a break of serve to level the match. In the ensuing match tiebreak, it was the top seeds that edged through to book a semi-final spot 6-7(8), 6-4, 12-10.
The semi-final saw the top seeds face Andrea Arnaboldi & Salvatore Caruso. The Italian wildcard pairing managed to stay with Murray & Skupski in the first set, forcing a tiebreak. The Italians kept the pressure on and edged the breaker to take the lead. The Brits re-grouped in the second set, and didn’t lose a game to level up. The match tiebreak was very close, however the top seeds edged into the final 6-7(5), 6-0, 11-9.
In the final the Brits were against the second seeds Austin Krajicek & Artem Sitak. The American/Kiwi pairing forced Murray & Skupski into a tiebreak, which they dominated. The top seeds needed to re-group and fight back. Break of serves were exchanged, but it was the Brits that eventually secured the winning break to level up. Another match tiebreak was required to settle this. Murray & Skupski pulled out to a very healthy lead before being pegged back, however the top seeds still managed to secure the win 6-7(2), 7-5, 10-6.
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Doubles Round Up
Dom Inglot with Franko Skugor were defeated by Łukasz Kubot & Marcelo Melo in the quarter-final in Indian Wells 4-6, 6-2, 10-6.
Scott Clayton with Adil Shamasdin defeated Matt Reid & John-Patrick Smith in the final in Drummondville 5-7, 6-3, 10-5.
Liam Broady with Thai-Son Kwiatkowski were defeated by Luis David Martínez & Roberto Quiroz in the first round in Drummondville 6-4, 6-4.
Angus Bradshaw with Jeremy Moser were defeated by Andrew Watson & Tom Fawcett in the first round in Bakersfield 6-4, 6-2.
David Fox with Jenson Brooksby were defeated by Ian Dempster & Jacob Dunbar in the first round in Bakersfield 6-4, 6-4.
Ryan Peniston with Danny Thomas were defeated by Aleksandar Vukic & Wu Tung-Lin in the first round in Bakersfield 3-6, 6-1, 10-5.
Andrew Watson with Tom Fawcett were defeated by Hunter Johnson & Yates Johnson in the quarter-final in Bakersfield 6-4, 6-4.
Finn Bass & Jonathan Gray were defeated by Jack Findel-Hawkins & Korey Lovett in the quarter-final in California 6-3, 6-3.
Jack Findel-Hawkins with Korey Lovett were defeated by Simon Freund & Karl Friberg in the semi-final in California 6-1, 1-6, 10-8.
Freya Christie with Valeria Savinykh were defeated by Olga Doroshina & Polina Monova in the final in Russia 6-4, 6-7, 11-9.
Evan Hoyt & Luke Johnson were defeated by Jonathan Binding & Finn Tearney in the first round in Portugal 6-2, 7-5.
Jonathan Binding with Finn Tearney were defeated by Fred Gil & Eduardo Struvay in the semi-final in Portugal 4-6, 6-0, 11-9.
Aidan McHugh with Aaron Schmid were defeated by Harrison Adams & Junior Alexander Ore in the first round in Mexico 6-1, 7-5.
Isaac Stoute with Quentin Robert were defeated by Corentin Denolly & Titouan Droguet in the quarter-final in France 7-5, 6-3.
Anna Popescu with Leonie Kung were defeated by Alize Lim & Shérazad Reix in the first round in France 6-1, 6-2.
Ella Taylor with Lucie Wargnier were defeated by Alize Lim & Shérazad Reix in the quarter-final in France 6-1, 6-3.
Samantha Murray with Fatma Al-Nabhani were defeated by Chang Kai-Chen & Hsu Ching-Wen in the first round in Japan 0-6, 6-2, 10-1.
Gabriella Taylor with Akiko Omae were defeated by Haruna Arakawa & Minori Yonehara in the semi-final in Japan 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-4.
Tara Moore with Emina Bektas were defeated by Haruna Arakawa & Minori Yonehara in the final in Japan 6-4, 6-3.
Next Week Brits play in Miami, Lille, USA Futures, Portugal, Mexico, Tunisia, Turkey, Bahrain, Japan, Australia, France & Egypt.
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