BRITS DREAM OF A DOUBLES DOUBLE!
WORLD CUP HERO TO THE RESCUE AGAIN
IT SEEMS an age since Britain’s singles challenge fizzled out at the Australian Open, but this weekend brings the promise of two Grand Slam doubles titles.
For Joe Salisbury it would be a first, while Jamie Murray has become such an old hand at winning them that he could become GB’s most decorated player in terms of Major trophies.
Murray, with American partner Bethanie Mattek- Sands, will today play the mixed doubles final, going in search of his eighth Grand Slam in the company of another player.
While it is, clearly, not the equal of singles he would eclipse the seven won by Virginia Wade, who claimed three on her own.
‘honestly I didn’t know that,’ said Murray, after they had beaten Australia’s Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith 6-3, 7-6. ‘ It’s not something I’d ever thought about but I guess that’s a cool record to have. But I’ve not done it yet.’
Murray and the ebullient Mattek-Sands have won the last two US Opens, and she came up with an interesting explanation of how they first got together.
‘there is this tennis tinder app. I saw his profile pics. I swiped it,’ she said.
Following the women’s singles final, which begins at 8.30am UK time, they will hope a decent crowd stays on to see them play fifth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Croatia’s nikola Mektic. Mixed doubles is not the cutting edge of tennis, but a fifth title in the genre would still be a hugely laudable achievement for the 33-year-old Scot.
In the early hours of tomorrow morning Salisbury and Rajeev Ram will tackle Australians Max Purcell and Luke Saville in the men’s final.
Murray partnered Salisbury in the AtP Cup this month and is delighted to see his compatriot’s trajectory go ever upwards.
‘they are a very good serving team — Joe is a great athlete, moves around the court very well. Potentially, if he has a good next three to four months, he could be no 1 in the world the way the doubles rankings are working out. It is an exciting time for him. And to have someone else really playing at the top of their game, for British tennis, is brilliant.’
this morning 21- year- old American Sofia Kenin will try to become the latest unexpected Grand Slam singles winner when she takes on former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.
Mattek- Sands knows the challenger well as her regular doubles partner and, while the Moscow- born Kenin is only seeded 14, it has not been a shock to see her come through.
‘Knowing her and seeing some of her wins this year, I am not really surprised,’ she said. ‘I don’t consider her that much of an outside shot at this title. She is feisty, she showed her mentality wins matches.
‘Against Barty (in the semis), it was her fire that got her through. She came up big with some returns on the right points and that is what it takes. She is a unique person who is really herself. that is what is going to help in the big points, you bring your personality out there.’
Kenin moved with her family to the United States as an infant. her father and mentor Alexander took several jobs at once to help the family survive.
the story of a first generation family from eastern europe doing well in tennis is a familiar enough one, especially when their heritage is Russian.
Kenin Snr explained yesterday that he moved ‘because I wanted a better future for my kids’. Asked why so many tennis players originate from the former eastern bloc, he replied: ‘the route is very tough, tough and bitter.
‘What’s around it is decoration. there is something inside.’
Muguruza is unseeded after a poor 18 months but has been back in the form that saw her win both at Roland Garros and SW19 back in 2016 and 2017.
Jason Roy, the man who put the finishing touches on England’s Lord’s triumph last July, had to make another telling intervention to stop Eoin Morgan’s team being embarrassed in their opening outing as one- day world champions yesterday.
Things could not have begun much worse as Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root departed in the first over and Morgan followed soon after to leave the tourists 16 for three in the first of two practice matches against a Cricket south africa XI.
But Roy, who launched the most famous throw in English cricket history to dismiss new Zealand’s Martin Guptill in his last outing for the national oDI team, rode his luck early to crash 104, an innings that proved the cornerstone of a 77-run win at Boland Park.
It was not only the loss of the early wickets that made the Roy-led navigation to safety challenging. a planned morning power-cut of two hours — used in areas of south africa to avoid outages late in the day — meant the batsmen did not have the luxury of a scoreboard to gauge their progress, rendering the surrey batsman unaware that he had reached a 94-ball hundred until a smattering of applause broke out.
‘I thought the umpire stitched me up, to be honest,’ said Roy. ‘I could only assume it was for my hundred so I raised my bat but then he said, “are you sure they are not clapping (the team) 150?”. I said, “I bloody hope not,” as I would have looked like a bit of a muppet.’
Even with the typically aggressive innings from the 29-year- old, plus handy contributions from Joe Denly and Chris Woakes, England were under threat as the south africa XI reached 91 for one in pursuit of 241.
But Lancashire leg-spinner Matt Parkinson exploited the lack of pace in the pitch to quell the rollicking start, dismissing home captain Jean du Plessis in the 18th over, triggering a collapse of eight wickets for 47 runs.
The two teams meet again today in another 14-a-side contest, ahead of the three-match oDI series, starting in Cape Town on Tuesday.
ENGLAND 240 in 44.1 overs (Roy 104, Woakes 38), SA Invitation XI 163 in 38.4 overs (Snyman 65). England won by 77 runs.