John Peers’s reunion with a former doubles partner paid off in Basel, while Alex de Minaur made an encouraging run to a semifinal in Vienna.
Melbourne, 28 October 2024 | Dan Imhoff
In a reprisal of one of the tour’s top doubles combinations that first formed in 2013, John Peers and Britain’s Jamie Murray took down the top three seeds en route to the ATP 500 trophy in Basel.
A 6-3 7-5 victory over top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Metkic marked the pair’s first title together since Hamburg in 2015.
Peers and Murray had saved three match points in the opening round of qualifying before they claimed six straight wins for the silverware.
It was Peers’ second title this year, following his Olympic Games gold alongside Matt Ebden in Paris, and the 28th of his career.
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This week’s most outstanding performers also include…
Alex de Minaur: In a promising return to form in his comeback from a hip cartilage tear suffered at Wimbledon, De Minaur reached his fourth semifinal of the season at the ATP 500 event in Vienna. While the 25-year-old fell to in-form Karen Khachanov, he closed to within 165 points of eighth-placed Andrey Rublev in the race to the ATP Finals.
Rinky Hijikata: The 23-year-old lived up to his top seed at the ATP Challenger event in Playford, South Australia after he went all the way to his third title at that level. It was a welcome return for Hijikata, who claimed his first Challenger title in Playford two years ago.
Maddison Inglis: Following two runners-up and a pair of semifinals on Australian Pro Tour stops in Perth and Cairns in recent months, the 26-year-old finally landed the trophy at the ITF W75 event in Playford. The third seed pulled clear of Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume for her ninth ITF title and took her record to 19-4 since US Open qualifying.
Adam Walton: The 25-year-old reached his sixth ATP Challenger final of the season at the Taipei 2 event in Taipei City. In his return to the site of his third career Challenger title in May, Walton’s defeat to Japan’s Taro Daniel was his fourth defeat in a final at that level this season.
Hijikata repeating history! 🥇🔄@rinky_23 defies Shimizu to gain a third career title in Playford, having claimed his first victory here in 2022 🇦🇺#ATPChallenger | @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/tnrzfjFd6i
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 27, 2024
Aleksandar Vukic: The top seed in Taipei City, Vukic reached the semifinals of the ATP Challenger event where he fell to compatriot Walton in three sets. It took the 28-year-old’s record in his past three events to 10-3, including a semifinal run at the Almaty ATP event last week.
Marc Polmans: The eighth seed reached his 20th ATP Challenger semifinal in Playford following an upset of third seed and rising Japanese Shintaro Mochizuki. The 27-year-old improved to 7-2 from his past two events on home soil after he made the final at the Cairns 2 tournament.
Jaimee Fourlis: Seeded fifth, Fourlis reached her biggest ITF semifinal since May 2023 at the W100 event in Tyler, in the US. In her fourth ITF semifinal this season, the 25-year-old fell to American teenager Iva Jovic.
Talia Gibson: A semifinal defeat to eventual champion Inglis at the Playford W75 event broke the in-form 20-year-old’s 17-match winning streak. The top seed was aiming for her fourth straight hard-court title on home turf since September.
Taylah Preston: The 19-year-old advanced to her second ITF semifinal of the season – the biggest of her career – at the W75 Playford event. In a successful week for the West Australian, she also reached the doubles final alongside Lizette Cabrera.
Destanee Aiava: On the heels of her Cairns Pro Tour title a fortnight ago, the 24-year-old’s seven-match winning streak ended in the quarterfinals of the W75 Playford event. Aiava fell to eventual finalist Sakatsume.
Omar Jasika: The left-hander’s exceptional unbeaten streak came to an end in the Playford Challenger quarterfinals after 29 straight wins. It took eventual champion Hijikata to stop the 27-year-old, who had not lost since August including four straight titles in Bali (twice), Darwin (twice) and Cairns.
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Tristan Schoolkate: The 23-year-old reached his 10th ATP Challenger quarterfinal of the year in Playford. Seeded fourth, his defeat to Masamichi Imamura took his career record in Challenger quarterfinals to 5-11.
Li Tu: After his run through qualifying at the Shanghai Masters, the 28-year-old returned to his home state where he made the quarterfinals at the Playford Challenger. It was the sixth seed’s fourth Challenger quarterfinal of the season.
Maya Joint: The 18-year-old closed in on her top-100 breakthrough with a quarterfinal run on hard court at the Tampico WTA 125K event in Mexico. Seeded eighth, Joint fell to Canada’s Rebecca Marino in her 16th quarterfinal this year.
Blake Ellis and Thomas Fancutt: The second seeds won their first ATP Challenger title together in Playford. In an all-Australian final, they denied in-form brothers Jake and Jesse Delaney their fourth title together since August. The win marked Ellis’ sixth title this year and Fancutt’s third.
Petra Hule and Alexandra Bozovic: The unseeded duo collected the ITF W75 doubles title in Playford over fellow Australian Lizette Cabrera and Taylah Preston. Victory marked Hule’s fifth straight doubles final win this season and took her career haul to 10. It was also Bozovic’s 10th career ITF title.
Alexandra Osborne: The 29-year-old landed the biggest doubles title of her career after she and American Clervie Ngounoue won the ITF W100 event in Tyler, in the US. The biggest of Osborne’s three prior doubles titles was a W40 triumph in Porto last year.
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