By Glenys Furness
- Clayton & O’Mara claim first challenger title of 2018
- Defeated two seeded pairs en route to the trophy
BERGAMO, ITALY – Scott Clayton & Jonny O’Mara claimed their first challenger title of 2018, and their second challenger title together.
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Scott Clayton & Jonny O’Mara entered the challenger event in Bergamo, in the first round the Brits were against Benjamin Bonzi & Gabor Borsos. The Italian/Hungarian team were unable to make any in roads into the Brits serve, whilst Clayton & O’Mara obtained the one break needed to lead.
The second set was very much closer, with neither side giving an inch. Bonzi & Borsos forced the set to a tiebreak, however the Brits were too much for the Italian/Hungarian and strolled away with the breaker to seal the match and a spot in the quarter-final 6-3, 7-6(4).
In the quarter-final Clayton & O’Mara were against the second seeds Romain Arneodo & Tristan-Samuel Weissborn. The Brits continued from where they left off in the first round, and once again made life difficult. The seeds were not able to break the Brits serve and Clayton & O’Mara took the first set.
Once again the second set was very close, both teams not getting the advantage and going to a tiebreak. As with the first set the Brits stormed ahead and the seeds were unable to pull back. Clayton & O’Mara sealed the win and moved to the semi-final 6-3, 7-6(3).
The semi-final saw the Brits face the fourth seeds Rameez Junaid & Igor Zelenay. The Australian/Slovak pairing started the match well, and took the first set from Clayton & O’Mara. The Brits were not done yet though, and fought back in the second set and took the seeds to a tiebreak. Junaid & Zelenay kept the tiebreak close, but the Brits edged it to force a match tiebreak. Clayton & O’Mara took the lead in the match tiebreak and didn’t look back to book their place in the final 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-8.
In the final the Brits were against another unseeded pairing in Laurynas Grigelis & Alessandro Motti. The Lithuanian/Italian pair were broken early in the first set, but managed to get the break back and then secure the set. This however seemed to steam out of Grigelis & Motti as the Brits stormed out to a five love lead in the second set and soon levelled up the match. In the deciding match tiebreak the Brits fought hard and edged the win 5-7, 6-3, 15-13.
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Doubles Round Up
Jamie Murray with Bruno Soares lost in the semi-final of Rio 6-4, 6-4
Dom Inglot with Marcus Daniell lost in the final of Marseille, they took the first set 7-6(4), then lost the next 6-3, 10-4
Ken Skupski with Stefano Tsitsipas lost in the first round of Marseille taking the first set 6-2, then losing the next 6-3, 10-6
Eden Silva with Lisa Ponomar lost in the first round of Dubai 6-2, 6-7(2), 10-7
Anna Smith with Renata Voracova lost in the first round of Budapest despite winning the second set to love. 6-4, 10-4 were the scorelines in the other sets.
Brydan Klein with Luca Margaroli lost in the quarter-final of Kyoto taking the first set on a tiebreak 6-7(5), 6-4, 13-11
Jonathan Binding & Scott Duncan lost in the final in Tunisia 6-2, 6-2
Joel Cannell with Fernando Bogajo lost in the quarter-final in Portugal 6-3, 6-3
Katy Dunne with Naiktha Bains lost in the quarter-final in Perth 6-4, 6-3
Next Week Brits play in Acapulco, Dubai, Indian Wells & Yokohama
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