Jamie Murray seals first title of the season in Doha; Six further champions across the ITF and wheelchair tennis tours
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Get the latest from the British tennis stars competing across the world as Jamie Murray, Amarni Banks and Jay Clarke captured their first titles of the year.
Murray & Venus star in Qatar; Norrie makes first semi-final of the season
Jamie Murray led the British champions this week, with the 38-year-old lifting the Qatar Open title alongside Michael Venus.
Murray and Venus won their first title of the 2024 season after defeating Italian duo Lorenzo Musetti and Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(0), 2-6, 10-8 in the final.
The British-Kiwi partnership only dropped one set all week having come into the tournament without a win so far this year. Both players have jumped two places in the ATP rankings, with Murray now up to world No.16.
In 2023, Murray and Venus won a total of four ATP Tour trophies – a career-best for the former world No.1.
Elsewhere on the ATP Tour last week, Cam Norrie reached his first semi-final of the season at the Rio Open.
The defending champion enjoyed a strong return to Brazil – battling past Hugo Dellien, Tomas Barrios Vera and Thiago Seyboth Wild to make the final four.
However, in the semis, Norrie lost out to Argentinian Mariano Navone 6-4, 6-2, missing out on the chance to retain his title.
Banks & Clarke bag first singles titles of 2024
Amarni Banks and Jay Clarke both claimed singles titles on the ITF Tour last week, with impressive runs in Australia and Tunisia.
21-year-old Banks finished her week at the W35 Traralgon without dropping a set as she lifted the first singles trophy of her career.
Banks ticked off a significant milestone in her career after beating Japan’s Naho Sato in the final 6-3, 6-3.
The British star is now up to a career-high ranking at world No.308.
Meanwhile, Clarke’s successful stetch at the M25 Hammamet series saw him win his first title of the 2024 season.
Having lost out in the final only a few weeks before, Clarke came from a set behind to defeat Austrian Sandro Kopp 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
Clarke had previously partnered Kopp in the doubles during his title-run in Tunisia last week.
Francesca Jones also made singles final at the W35 Hammamet, picking up four straight wins on the clay, but was eventually forced to retire in the final against Lucija Ciric Bagaric.
Four British champions in Bolton
Four British players starred at the Bolton Indoor ITF 2 and ITF 3 events last week, with Lucy Shuker, Cornelia Oosthuizen, Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade finishing amongst the title-winners.
Shuker and Oosthuizen went one further than their runner-up finish at the ITF 2 event last year to clinch their first doubles title together.
The British duo defeated South American second seeds Angelica Bernal and Maria Florencia Moreno 6-1, 2-6, 10-8 in the final to give Shuker her sixth career doubles title in Bolton.
In the ITF 2 quad events, Andy Lapthorne won his fourth singles title since 2016. The 17-time Grand Slam champion defeated Brazil’s Leandro Pena 6-1, 6-4 in the semi-final before receiving a walkover against Andrew Bogdanov in the final.
Lapthorne also took home the doubles crown alongside fellow Brit Slade. The British team defeated Pena and Ymanitu Silva 6-0, 6-4 to win their second career title together in Bolton.
Slade finished last week with a total of three titles to his name. The young Brit got his campaign in Bolton underway with both the singles and doubles trophies at the ITF 3 event.
He blitzed past Pena in the singles final 6-3, 6-0 before teaming up with Slovakia’s Tomas Masaryk to beat Pena and Silva in the doubles.
