Stewart and Wainwright capture TS Open Tour titles, Lumsden extends winning streak in Tunisia, Scotland compete in Four Nations

The TS Open Tour returned as Whitecraigs Tennis Club hosted the 2024 Scottish Clay Court Championships  

Hamish Stewart and Mia Wainwright emerged victorious as they put together a winning week of tennis in their respective draws. 

Top seed Stewart was playing in his third TS Open Tour event of the season having previously won the West of Scotland Open and Scottish Grass Court Championships. 

Stewart opened his account with a win over Thomas Dixon before taking out fifth seed Nicolas Rosenzweig 6-3 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals. 

There he faced Nottinghamshire’s Patrick Foley. Stewart was dominant in the first set and was able to book his place in Thursday afternoon’s final after a closely contested second set 6-1 6-4.  

Meanwhile, James Mackinlay was making his way through the lower half of the draw. Mackinlay had to save a match point in the semi-final against second seeded Marcus Walters to prevail 4-6 7-5 10-6 to set up an all-Scottish clash for the title. 

The final saw Stewart rise to the occasion once again and continue his winning form as he was able to put on a flawless display to down Mackinlay 6-2 6-1 to win the title and remain unbeaten in TS Open Tour singles play this season. 

In the women’s draw, Wainwright also captured her third title of the season in three tournaments played.  

The Scottish Grass Courts and Scottish Indoors champion returned to the TS Open Tour as the fifth seed.  

Two commanding victories saw Wainwright take her place in the quarter-finals where she downed second seed Summer Yardley 6-1 6-2 to progress to the final four. 

The semi-final saw Wainwright face third seed Francesca Simpson, and Wainwright put on another convincing performance to win 6-1 6-2 and book her place in the final. 

Amelie Brooks was on a strong run of form as she made her way through the top half of the draw.  

The final went the distance with Wainwright capturing the opening set before Brooks bounced back to take the title match into a deciding set.  

There was little in the final set, but Wainwright found a way through winning 6-4 1-6 6-4 to take home the trophy and the £1250 winner’s cheque.  

Both Hamish and Mia are unbeaten in singles play this season as they continue to move up the TS Open Tour leaderboard.

Lumsden extends winning streak in Tunisia  

Ewen Lumsden was on winning form again in Tunisia. Having won his first professional singles title the week before, Lumsden was straight back to work in the qualifying draw the following day. 

Two straight wins over France’s Hugo Cardinaud and Theo Herrmann saw Lumsden enter the main draw of the ITF M15 event. 

Ewen dropped only three games in his first round against wildcard Josh Roe Flannelly as he moved past the Irishman 6-3 6-0.  

Next up was fifth-seeded Dali Blanch of the USA. A close encounter saw Lumsden prevail 7-5 7-6 to set up a meeting with fourth seed Maxence Rivet. 

Lumsden made light work of Rivet as he bested the Frenchman 6-1 6-2 to reach the semi-finals for two weeks running and extend his combined winning streak to 17 matches. 

However, it was not to be in the semi-final of the singles as Lumsden lost out to Louis Dussin in a third-set battle 6-1 1-6 4-6. 

In the doubles, Ewen teamed up with Jordan’s Mousa Alkotop. The pair managed to win three straight match tie-breaks to reach the final, two of which were comebacks from a set down. 

In the final saw the pair lose out to American pair Alex Jones and Miles Jones 5-7 3-6. 

A strong couple of weeks for Ewen will see him rise over 200 spots in the singles rankings to a projected career-high of 804.

Scotland compete in 2024 Four Nations Championship 

Team Scotland travelled to Dublin, Ireland, to compete in the 2024 Junior Four Nations Championships. 

The team was led by Tennis Scotland Head of Performance Karen Ross along with age group captains Euan McGinn (12U), Joe Gill (14U) and Toby Smith (18U). 

The final standings saw Scotland finish third overall with the12U and 18U team placing second and the 14U team placing fourth.  

The 12U team made up of Fraser Newcombe, Cameron Rae, Natalia Augustynska and Kana Saito claimed wins over Wales and Ireland but fell to winners England. 

The 14U team of Dominik Czopek, Caelan Mckechnie, Jessica Currie and Becky Macleod lost out to England and Ireland in ties that featured a number of close matches. Scotland were able to pick up a win against Wales on Sunday in singles play but ultimately it wasn’t enough to for a third-place finish.  

The 18U team of Callum McGinn, Lance Nisbet, Aadya Iyer Chadalawada and Anna Mcknight secured a win over England by sets score but lost out to Ireland by set score as matches were level at three rubbers a piece. 

Scotland fell to Wales in singles play on the final day but finished second 18U category in a group with very little in it. 

The overall results saw Scotland finish third overall behind winners England and runners-up Wales.