British Tennis Watch – Week 16

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 16 – 17–23 April 2023

In this week’s edition:

Dan Evans reaches the semi-final at the ATP 500 in Barcelona
14-year-old Hannah Klugman makes a quarter-final in her first ever senior event
Francesca Jones reaches the final at an ITF in Ecuador

ATP/WTA Main Tour

500 Level

There were two 500-Level tournaments, one for each gender, in Spain and Germany respectively for the men and the women this week.

At the ATP 500 in Barcelona, ahead of next week’s 1000 Event in Madrid, Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie were seeded 12th and 7th respectively, and both enjoyed byes into the second round as a result. Norrie shrugged off his four-match losing streak to beat qualifier Pavel Kotov in the second round with ease, but came unstuck against Lorenzo Musetti – who had beaten Djokovic the previous week in Monte Carlo – in the third round.

Evans, however, had a better week than Norrie by some distance. In the third round, Evans beat Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-4 to extend his winning record against Khachanov to 4-0. Evans then took out clay-court specialist Francisco Cerundolo in the quarter-finals, coming back to win from a set down and winning crucial points where they mattered. Unfortunately, Evans’ opponent in the semi-finals was Carlos Alcaraz, and you can imagine what happened next: Alcaraz dominated the match, winning 6-2 6-2, and went on to win the title.

In Stuttgart, Emma Raducanu was granted a wildcard into the main draw, but she struggled to find her feet against the experienced Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, and she lost 6-2 6-1 in their first-round clash.

250 Level

Liam Broady and Kyle Edmund both featured in the first round draws of the ATP 250 events in Bosnia and Germany respectively this week, in circumstances that were contrasting but with results that ended up being rather similar.

In Bosnia, Broady reached the final qualifying round before being beaten by Croatian wildcard Dino Prizmic, a 17-year-old rising star. However, Broady was given a reprieve of sorts, earning a lucky loser slot in the main draw after another player withdrew, so he had a second bite at the cherry. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be second time lucky, with Broady mustering just one breakpoint opportunity against veteran Bosnian Damir Dzumhur and going out 6-3 6-0.

Edmund, meanwhile, earned a wildcard into the main draw in Stuttgart, and almost capitalised: he was up against Swiss eighth seed Marc-Andrea Hustler, and put up a mighty good fight, eventually going down 7-6(3) 4-6 6-3 to register his seventh defeat in nine matches this year so far.

ATP Challenger Tour / WTA/ITF Futures Tour

140 Level

There was only one British woman in action in the two ITF140 events in the USA and Portugal this week – Yuriko Miyazaki made her away across the pond for the event in Charleston, but ran into third seed (and eventual champion) Emma Navarro in the first round – again – and was soundly beaten for the second week in a row.

125 Level

Billy Harris was entered into qualifying at the CH125 event in Portugal this week, and managed to battle through into the main draw after two three-set epics against Eastern European opposition. In the first round, he came up against France’s Evan Furness, and it was another tight clash, but this time Harris couldn’t quite get over the line in either set, going down 7-5 7-6(3).

80 Level

Like Liam Broady, Emily Appleton also made a main draw this week as a lucky loser – she entered qualifying for the ITF80 in Bellinzona, Switzerland, and was seeded second in the qualifying draw. She beat fellow Brit Emily Webley-Smith in the first qualifying round, despite dropping the first set to the British 38-year-old, before losing her final qualifying match to a French player. However, she was granted a spot in the main draw as a lucky loser, but was unable to make the most of it, going down to Audrey Albie of France in three close sets.

75 Level

Jay Clarke showed some promise that has been lacking in recent weeks at the CH75 in Mexico this week – going into the competition, the 24-year-old had won just one of his last seven matches, but took quite the scalp in the opening round in Morelos as he defeated the second seed Antoine Bellier of Switzerland in his opening match. He could go no further, though – Frenchman Terence Atmane stood in his way in the second round, and defeated Clarke with exactly the same scoreline that Clarke had won with in the previous round: 7-6(4) 6-4.

Aidan McHugh was also in Mexico, in qualifying: he won one match, but couldn’t get past his final qualifying round opponent.

50 Level

The main hub of British action this week was in Nottingham, where the women took part in an ITF50, and the men had the pleasure of an ITF25 to contend with.

To the women first: the best performance came from Katy Dunne, who reached the semi-finals before running out of steam and collapsing against her Dutch semi-final opponent, 6-0 6-2. In the quarters, Dunne had defeated 14-year-old Hannah Klugman in the quarter-final: Klugman was competing in her first ever senior competition, and had beaten Eliz Maloney, eight years her senior, in the opening round, and then Latvian 30-year-old Diana Marcinkevica in the second – a quite astonishing performance from a true rising star of British tennis.

Naiktha Bains also appeared in the quarter-finals, while young wildcards Mika Stojsavljevic and Hephzibah Oluwadare, as well as qualifier Alice Gillan and Amarni Banks, made the second round.

There were British women in action elsewhere, too: Francesca Jones, following her excellent performance at the WTA 250 last week, dropped back down to ITF50 level this week and almost came away with a first title of the year in Ecuador. Her run to the final as the ninth seed was majestic, and she was only halted by top seeded Argentinian Julia Reira. Jones was unranked at the start of the year, and is now already almost back inside the world’s top 350.

Meanwhile, Sonay Kartal marched to the semi-finals of the ITF50 in Santa Margherita di Pula in Italy this week, two weeks after she claimed the title here. Her eight-match winning streak was ended by French qualifier Sara Cakarevic in a topsy-turvy semi which finished 1-6 6-0 6-2. Anna Brogan reached the quarter-finals of the ITF50 in Sharm El-Sheikh, after defeating the third seed in the first round, while Emilie Lindh and Naomi Jackson were eliminated in qualifying.

25 Level

The Nottingham ITF25 event for the men saw a British finalist, but not an up-and-coming youngster; rather, 32-year-old journeyman Dan Cox, who took out the fifth and stop seeds before eventually falling to Frenchman Jules Marie in the final. There were impressive performances elsewhere, too, with Daniel Little reaching the semi-finals and Millen Huron coming through qualifying to reach the quarters. A special mention to 18-year-old wildcard Louis Bowden, who finally secured his first ever ITF main draw victory in the first round, and with it his first ever senior ranking point.

Elsewhere, Alistair Gray was the top seed in Egypt but lost in the first round, with James Beaven, Dean Cooper Kirby, and Jack Caso all falling in qualifying.

15 Level

Not a lot to write home about at the ITF15 events across the globe. In Tunisia, Nicolas Philibert got the furthest in the qualifying draw, reaching the second qualifying round. Louis Allen, Matthias Southcombe and Carl Holder all lost their opening matches. In Turkey, Felix Mischker retired from his first qualifying round match – and we wish him well. In Trinidad and Tobago, Elbert Barr was seeded in qualifying but lost in the final qualifying round, while in Spain, Zach Stephens was the only Brit who actually made it to the main draw – albeit as a wildcard – and he also lost early, to a local lad who had picked up a wildcard of his own.

10 Level

The British contingent in Spain continued their efforts to not much avail: Abigail Amos made the main draw as a lucky loser but found herself up against the second seed. She put up a decent fight but went down 7-6(4) 6-3. Neither Sarah Tatu and Ananya Vartak were able to join Amos in the main draw.

Junior Tennis

J200 Level

Vlada Kozak took on her first ever J200 event in Slovakia this week, and was able to claim a single win the first round before being eliminated in the last 32. Isabella Gibson was also in the main draw as a lucky loser, but fell 6-4 6-0 to older and higher-ranked opposition.

J60 Level

Aryan Singh reached the quarter-finals of the J60 in Lebanon this week, although just across the border in Israel, Dina Lipovski and Sophie Becker couldn’t trouble their first round opposition, both going out in round one.

J30 Level

The big story here was the arrival of 13-year-old Alisha Ndukwu at her first ever ITF Juniors event. She was in action in Ghana, and battled all the way through to the final in a brilliant performance, considering it was her debut at this level. She eventually lost in straight sets in the final, but will be in action in Ghana again next week. In the Boys’ draw, Conor Flynn reached the quarters before retiring through injury, while Andrei Nita lost in the first round.

Elsewhere, Taylor Mohammad lost in the semi-finals at the J30 in Turkey, Daisy Clifford made the quarter-finals in Ivory Coast, while Sam Park reached the second round in Botswana.