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As the grass court swing continues in England, a number of British players fell at the first hurdle at the HSBC Championships ATP 500 event and the Nottingham Open WTA 250 event.
First up in west London, wild card Jack Pinnington Jones came two points away from a dream debut at The Queen’s club against Denis Shapovalov before the world number 41 went on to win 6-4 4-6 7-6 (3).
At 30-0 in the final and third set, the British number eight was on course to a memorable victory on Andy Murrary Arena, but a valiant fightback from the former Wimbledon semi-finalist saw him win the next three points and bringing the set back on serve, ultimately forcing it into a tie-break.
That it was where the Canadian’s experience took over and he managed to secure his first win since April with a fantastic dive volley winner.
It was the 23-year-old’s second ATP 500 tournament, having reached the quarter-finals in Houston earlier this year.
Earlier on in the day at the west London club, the first match on Andy Murray Arena, Harry Wendelken was beaten 6-4 7-6(5) by the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp.
Having progressed to the main draw from the qualifiers, the 24-year-old had three break points at 5-5 in the second set but was unable to convert before in the subsequent tie break, he led 5-2 before the Dutchman struck back to earn the win.
Embed from Getty ImagesThere was positive news in the doubles at the Queen’s Club as Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash won their first round tie against Francisco Cerundolo and Brandon Nakashima 7-5 6-4 while Brit Luke Johnson and his partner Jan Zielinski overcame Czech Republic duo Jakub Mensik and Jiri Lehecka.
Further up north, in the WTA 250 event in Nottingham, it was another disappointing afternoon for our Brits.
The British number four, Fran Jones, was defeated 6-3 5-7 7-6(4) by Australia’s Talia Gibson to bring her tournament to a premature end.
Harriet Dart is the only other remaining Brit in the main draw and was scheduled to take on Katie Boutler, but she has withdrawn – alongside Emma Raducanu – after picking up an injury during her run at HSBC Championships last week.
Once again, though, there was success on the doubles side as Maia Lumsden and Dart earned a 3-6 6-2 (10-2) win over Croatia duo Darija Schreiber and Antonia Ruzic.
Alongside the WTA event happening in Nottingham, we had six British players competing in the ATP Challenger 125 tournament.
Jay Clarke and Billy Harris earned impressive wins to progress to the second round, while Anton Matusevich, Alastair Gray and Oliver Tarvet suffered first round defeats.
