Brits double up at Eastbourne
JONNY O’MARA and Luke Bambridge won their maiden ATP Tour title with victory over fellow-British pair Ken and Neal Skupski in the doubles at the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne.
The winners, both 23, had never won a match at ATP Tour level prior to this but, after beating top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the quarter-finals, the omens were good. And they lifted the trophy with a 7-5, 6-4 win over the Skupski brothers.
It was a repeat of the result in the final of the Surbiton Challenger tournament earlier this month, which helped O’Mara and Bambridge break into the world’s top 100.
Today’s women’s final will be between top seed Caroline Wozniacki and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
Wozniacki saved a match point at 5-6 in the second set on her way to a 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory over fourth seed Angelique Kerber to reach her third final at Devonshire Park. The Dane won the title in 2009 and was runner-up 12 months ago.
Sabalenka ended the winning run of Agnieszka Radwanska on her return from injury, beating the Pole 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to reach her third WTA Tour final.
In the men’s event, Mischa Zverev ended Mikhail Kukushkin’s dream run – in which the Kazakhstani beat Kyle Edmund and David Ferrer – with a 7-6, 6-4 semi-final win.
German Zverev will face Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko in the final after the his 6-3, 6-4 win over Marco Cecchinato of Italy in the other semi-final.
Both Lacko and Zverev, a runner-up in Geneva last year, will be competing for their first ATP Tour title today.