Francesca Jones wins Rome WTA 125 title as Brits reach doubles finals on WTA & ATP tours
• 3 minute read
Catch up with the latest news and results from the British tennis stars around the world, including a WTA 125 singles title for one of our top women’s players and WTA and ATP Tour finals.
Jones makes title-winning return on the clay
Francesca Jones won her first title of the season and third career WTA 125 singles trophy at the ATV Bancomat Open.
The 25-year-old made a title-winning return to the clay in Rome, capping off the week with a convincing 6-3, 6-1 final win over fourth seed Lucia Bronzetti.
Jones had to fight her way to the final, coming back from a set down in three of her first four matches.
In the first round, she lost the opening set to Dallia Spiteri 6-1, before winning 12 of the next 13 games. The British star staged another comeback to beat Federica Urgesi in the second round 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and then again in the semi-final to defeat Martina Trevisan 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Jones’ victory sees her rise 10 places in the WTA rankings to world No.113. Earlier this year, the Brit achieved a career-high ranking at No.65.
Alicia Barnett also featured amongst the WTA 125 champions last week at the Generali Open Ladies Kitzbuhel.
Barnett and Elixane Lechemia - who also made the final in Bastad in the previous week - won their second and biggest title together after defeating second seeds Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers and Laura Pigossi 6-4, 6-3.
It's Barnett's first title at WTA 125 level and her best victory since lifting the trophy at the WTA 250 Granby back in 2022.
Doubles finals for Lumsden, Stevenson & Willis
In Athens, Maia Lumsden reached her sixth doubles final of the year, this time alongside Chinese partner Qianhui Tang.
Lumsden and Tang came through two match tie-breaks in the quarter and semi-finals to set up a final against Hao Ching Chan and Miyu Kato.
The British-Chinese duo came back from a set down to force Chan and Kato into another deciding match tie-break, but eventually lost 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-7.
Lumsden – who won the Lexus Nottingham Open with Harriet Dart last month – is now just one place away from a career-high WTA doubles ranking at world No.58.
Lexus Illkey Open champions David Stevenson and Marcus Willis also reached the final of the ATP 250 event in Umag, Croatia.
The unseeded duo ultimately finished runners-up in their first ATP final of the season to Adam Pavlasek and Patrik Rikl 6-3, 4-6, 10-6.
Stevenson and Willis are currently two of nine British players inside the ATP top 100 in doubles.
Meanwhile, Rahul Dhokia won the first professional doubles title of his career at the M15 Monastir.
Dhokia and Australia’s Lachlan Vickery defeated Enrico Rosellini and Giullo Stella 6-1, 6-2 in the final.
Dudeney & Black seal titles in Nottingham
On home soil, there were British champions in both the singles and doubles of the Lexus British Pro Series Nottingham World Tennis $50k event.
23-year-old Alicia Dudeney was crowned women’s singles champion after an impressive run that saw her overcome four fellow Brits.
Dudeney defeated fifth seed Hannah Klugman in the semi-final 6-3, 6-4, and claimed a 6-3, 7-6(5) final victory against sixth seed Naiktha Bains.
In the women’s doubles, 18-year-old Brooke Black took home the title with Kenyan partner Angella Okutoyi.
Black and Okutoyi knocked out third seeds Dudeney and Mika Stojsavljevic in the semi-final 2-6, 6-4, 10-6, before a walkover in the final against Victoria Allen and Amelia Rajecki.
Ward adds third title of the year
In wheelchair tennis, Dahnon Ward lifted his third WC100 singles title of the season in Leuven, Belgium.
20-year-old Ward won his latest trophy without dropping a set, finishing with a 6-0, 6-4 final victory against Charlie Cooper of the USA.
Gordon Reid reached the final of the WC500 Geneva – losing out to Spain’s Martin De La Puente 7-5, 6-0.
Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade were also singles quarter-finalists at the clay court event in Geneva, while Lapthorne also finished runner-up in the quad doubles with Leon Els.
