British Tennis Watch – Week 1

In this long-running series of articles, we will be reviewing all the action in the world of British tennis, from Grand Slams to Juniors. 

We’ll be trying to cover all manner of tennis at various different levels, with a focus on British prospects. For now, though, we will be keeping our focus on Singles action, and putting Doubles to one side except for big events such as the Grand Slams.

The article is split into different levels – these levels are based on the number of points available for the winner of each tournament. For example, a tournament at ‘250 Level’ means there are 250 ranking points available for the winning player.

Please let us know if we miss anyone off by emailing me at tennis@p.ublished.com.

Week 1 – 2–9 January 2023

United Cup 2023

Great Britain reached the Sydney City Final of the United Cup 2023. For those of you who have no idea what that means, essentially they made it through a tough Group Stage draw, winning the group of which they were the lowest ranked team, before being eliminated by the United States at what is, for all intents and purposes, the quarter-final stage.

Each match consisted of four singles matches followed by one potentially deciding doubles match, meaning three wins out of five in each tie was enough to secure victory.

And it was a positive week in general, though, for the British team led by former British Number One, Tim Henman – particularly for Cameron Norrie, who won all three of his matches against truly testing opposition. Norrie beat Aussie Alex De Minaur before coming back from a set down to beat Rafael Nadal – his first victory in five meetings between the two – and then was the only Brit to pick up a win against the USA in the City Final, after he defeated American Taylor Fritz 6-4 in the third.

Britain won both of their Group Stage matches against Australia and Spain, and credit must also go to Katie Swan, who won both of her group matches. The highlight for her was a comeback victory over Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain, a woman ranked over 70 places above her – after dropping the first set, she stormed back to win 3-6 6-1 6-2 to put Britain in the driving seat against Spain.

Each member of the Singles team had their chance to shine, too: Norrie and Swan were the first two matches in each encounter, meaning Harriet Dart and Dan Evans – the second-ranked Brits in the team – had opportunities to close out each tie. Dart beat Aussie Madison Inglis to give Britain an unassailable 3-0 lead against Australia, and after Dart lost her singles match against Spain, it was up to Evans to secure the tie for Team GB – and he did so with a battling victory over Albert Ramos Viñolas, 6-3 in the third.

It was a disappointing result against the United States in the City Final but not wholly unexpected – Britain were outranked in every matchup. But Evans in particular may have felt he could have taken the match to a doubles decider – after taking the first set against Francis Tiafoe, he had several breakpoint opportunities late in the second set to really take control, but failed to convert any of them, and eventually lost in three, conceding the tie in the process.

ATP/WTA Main Tour

250 Level

On the main Men’s and Women’s Tour, it was less of an encouraging start to the season. Spare a particular thought for Emma Raducanu, 2021 US Open Champion, who once again was forced to retire from a match she ought to have closed out much sooner after turning her ankle towards the end of the second set in the second round of the WTA 250 in Auckland. 

Raducanu fought past rising Czech star Linda Fruhvirtova in the first round before racing to a 6-0 lead against Slovakian qualifier Viktoria Kuzmova in her next match. But her return to action was cut short after rolling her ankle late in the second set, which she dropped 7-5 after being a break up, and Raducanu left the court in tears. It remains to be seen whether she’ll now be fit for the Australian Open in Week 3.

Elsewhere, there was only one British win from three players at the ATP 250 event in Adelaide – Kyle Edmund, returning from a long injury layoff, and Andy Murray both showed signs of rust in their first round defeats, while young Jack Draper swept past Korean Soon Woo Kwon in the first round before succumbing to eight seed Karen Khachanov in the second in straight sets.

ATP Challenger Tour / WTA/ITF Futures Tour

100 Level

Injury struck another Brit on the Mens’ ATP Challenger Tour as Ryan Peniston had to withdraw from his semi-final match at the CH100 event in Noumea, New Caledonia, with a right high issue. It’s hoped that this was only precautionary ahead of his push to qualify for the Australian Open in Week 2. Peniston had a good week otherwise, fulfilling his fourth seeding to reach the semis and coming past a tough match up against experienced Bosnian Damir Dzumhur in the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 straight sets victory.

Liam Broady was also in action at CH100 level, managing to successfully qualify for the event in Canberra this week ahead of his Aussie Open qualifying campaign. Broady then continued to impress in the main draw, coming past sixth seeded Italian Francesco Passaro in straight sets in the first round before eventually reaching the quarters, where he fell to talented Swiss youngster Leandro Riedl.

80 Level

TITLE ALERT!

It was a fantastic week for British women at the ITF80 in Canberra – five Brits in total were in action, and two of them reached the final, meaning we had a guaranteed title winner in the very first week of 2023. That winner was Katie Boulter, who overcame fellow Brit Jodie Burrage in a closely-fought final, 3-6 6-3 6-2. It’s ideal preparation for both of them as they enter Australian Open qualifying this week.

The other three ladies involved in Canberra will also be trying to make their way through qualifying for the first Grand Slam of the year in Week 2 – Heather Watson made the quarter-finals here before being halted by eventual champion Boulter, while Yuriko Miyazaki made her way through qualifying and to the second round before being beaten by Watson. The only real disappointment was Sonay Kartal’s early exit in qualifying. 

75 Level

Both Billy Harris and Stuart Parker failed to qualify for the CH75 in Thailand, and Paul Jubb lost to a qualifier in the first round.

50 Level

Jay Clarke picked up a single victory in Portugal at the CH50 but lost to Israeli lucky loser Edan Leshem in the second round.

25 Level

TITLE ALERT!

It was a fantastic first week of the season for 20-year-old Arthur Fery, who was over in America at the ITF25 event in Malibu. Fery, as fifth seed, reached the final after battling past American opponents in three of the opening four rounds, before finding himself up against another Yank in the final – 18-year-old Alex Michelsen, ranked roughly 130 places below the Brit. Fery won the first set but Michelsen clawed back the deficit in the second, and it looked to be turning in the American’s favour in the final set – Michelsen led 3-0 with a break in the decider. However, Fery hung on, and eventually won six of the last seven games of the match to win 6-4 2-6 6-4 for his first title of the year. Nice!

15 Level

No joy for Nicolas Philibert, Ying Hou, and John Horoz Garner in Tunisia at the ITF15 – all three lost in qualifying.

Junior Tennis

J100 Level

Some decent results on the fourth rung of junior tennis for Brits in both Sweden and India this week. In Chandigarh, India, 15-year-old Allegra K Davies defied her ranking to get all the way to the semi-finals, defeating second seed Liya Chu of Taiwan in the process. She was only halted by eventual champion Dominika Podhajecka in the semis. 

In Sweden, three British boys made the quarter-finals, with 16-year-old Charlie Robertson going a step further than his compatriots to reach the semis before an eventual defeat against the top seed, home favourite Albert Saar. Credit to Viktor Frydrych and Henry Jefferson who also made the quarters, and a shout out to Dilhan Wasantha who made it through qualifying despite being narrowly beaten in the first round. There was only one British representative in the Girls’ draw: third seed Marilee Raath lost in three sets in her opening round match.

J60 Level

17-year-old Kyle McKay got all the way to the final of the J60 event in Arlon, Belgium. The third seed eventually lost in straight sets to German Mika Petkovic on Sunday evening. Compatriot Thomas Lefranc fell in the final qualifying round of the Boys’ draw, while eighth seed Flora Johnson picked up one win before a second round exit – one better than Sirena Was, who lost in the opening round.

UK Pro League

Bringing together the UK’s top Professional Tennis Players, the UK Pro League (formerly the UK Pro Series) is a season-long competition to crown Britain’s men and women Champions.

Each week, players compete in a round robin format and play-offs to secure League Ranking Points as they endeavour to qualify for the end of season UK Pro League Finals.

Week 1 of the competition took place at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton this week, and there were some familiar names (for hardcore British tennis fans) involved. 

The winner of the Men’s competition was Anton Matusevich, a 21-year-old who reached as high as 12th in the Junior rankings but is yet to fulfil his potential on the senior tour – perhaps due to his ongoing studies at university in London, where he’s in his final year. Matusevich failed to drop a set all week, but was tested the most in his final against Aidan McHugh – Matusevich eventually emerged the victor, 7-6(6) 6-3. 16-year-old Henry Searle came third ahead of Ben Jones – Searle is certainly one to keep an eye on over the course of the next few years.

Bizarrely enough, the Women’s competition had a non-British final – a maximum of two foreign nationals (but British residents) can also take part in the event, and the only two taking part in this week’s event made the final. The highest-ranked British player was Danielle Daley, who ‘defeated’ Eden Silva in the third-place match after the latter retired through injury.

LTA British Tour

The British Tour is another way for British players to take part in competitive matches around the UK, and it has three tiers of competition – Premier, Tier 1, and Tier 2.

There was a Premier Tier competition in Loughborough in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, the first competition of the 2023 season. Both Men and Women took part in a Group Stage round robin with the top two from each group qualifying for the knockout stages. 17-year-old Phoenix Weir won against Patrick Foley in the Men’s Final. Weir won a Tier 1 competition in Loughborough the previous weekend, too, so has made a solid start to the season. Meanwhile, Summer Yardley made the final of the Women’s competition, only to be beaten by British-based Dutch player Michelle Dzjachangirova. 

There was also a Tier 2 event in Graves, with Oscar Brown and Flora Johnson taking the Men’s and Women’s titles respectively.