Egyptian win gives Bothwell fourth title

PETER Bothwell landed his fourth career doubles title and his second in as many weeks when he took the honours at the $15,000 tournament in Egypt on Saturday night.

Partnered by Spaniard David Perez, the 22-year-old from Hillsborough defeated Aliaksandr Liaonenka (Belarus) and Nikita Mashtakov (Ukraine) 6-0, 6-3.

Bothwell and Perez, who were ranked third, made short work of their unseeded opponents, taking just 45 minutes to chalk up an easy win.

The Irish Davis Cup player has been in a rich vein of form in doubles events recently, having won two titles and reached two finals in the space of four weeks.

Before this year his only two previous titles came in 2015 and 2016 and he can now boast a career-best doubles ranking of 589 which is set to rise after his latest triumph.

Bothwell said: “I’m very happy to have got another title and we didn’t drop a set all week.”

“We had some good wins along the way including in the semi final when we beat former world top-40 player Thiemo de Bakker.

“It was the first time we had played together and we clicked well. We compliment each other in ways but both of us play with a high energy so it was a perfect combination.”

The Hillsborough man will be aiming for more success this week when he takes part in another 15k tournament at the same venue.

He admits playing on the Futures tour can be extremely tough, revealing that the prize money is so low — the $15,000 relates to the entire purse paid to second round losers in singles through to the winners of both events — that he needs to keep on winning just to break even.

He explained: “My parents have made massive lifestyle and financial sacrifices just to try and keep me and my brother Sam on the road and I am also grateful to the Mary Peters Trust for their support.”

“On average, it costs each of us £1,000 a week just to play a ranking tournament when you take into account flights, accommodation and food.

“So, from my perspective, I must make the semi-finals of the singles or win the doubles, in which there is less of a prizefund, just to cover the costs alone.

“That makes it tough as a player because you must always concentrate on the process and not the outcome.” Doubles Act: Bothwell and Spanish partner David Perez