TS Open Tour titles for Mackinlay and Johnson while Scottish juniors compete in prestigious national events

James Mackinlay and Flora Johnson took home TS Open Tour titles at the Scottish National Open Championships. 

Held at the National Tennis Centre in the University of Stirling, the Scottish Nationals was the last Leaderboard event of the 2024 season with players competing to pick up valuable ranking points in their bids to qualify for the TS Open Tour Finals in December. 

For East of Scotland’s Mackinlay, it was a first Tour title of the season, having entered as third seed and opening his account with a straight-sets win over junior player Ollie Anderson.  

Mackinlay then battled to a three-set win over seventh seed Rob Cowley. Despite losing the first set, Mackinlay bounced back to win 6–7(6) 7-5 10-6 and move into the semi-finals. 

There he played Cameron Fryer, who had beaten second seed Ewan Moore in a three-set thriller the round before. 

Mackinlay took the first set 6-2 and led 2-0 in the second before Fryer retired due to injury, advancing James through to the final. 

Top seed Ewen Lumsden progressed through the other half of the draw, beating Liam Hignett in the other semi-final. 

The final saw Mackinlay take a 6-4 3-1 lead before Lumsden was forced to withdraw due to injury. 

In the women’s draw, Flora Johnson of Middlesex lifted the trophy after an impressive weekend of tennis.  

Johnson opened her tournament with a match tie-break win over Tamara Kuti 6-2 0-6 10-7 before a securing a straight-sets win over Lucy Furness in the quarter-finals. 

In the semi-final, Johnson played top seed Hephzibah Oluwadare. A close match went the way of Johnson as she won 6-4 6-4 to advance to the final. 

In the other half, University of Stirling’s Halle Pringle made a strong run to the final. The ninth seed had knocked out fourth seed Mia Wainwright and University of Stirling Open champion Marelie Raath. 

The final went the distance with Pringle taking the opening set before Johnson battled back to take the title 5-7 6-3 6-3 and capture her first TS Open Tour title. 

The TS Open Tour continues this weekend with the 2024 National Doubles Championships taking place at Glasgow Club Scotstoun. Entry is free to spectators, with the action getting underway on Friday morning.

Junior Scots succeed on National Tour 

Scottish juniors were south of the border competing in Lexus Indoor National Championships and Lexus Junior National Tour events.  

In the 10U boys’ National Tour in Sunderland, Oscar Cook won six matches to finish runner-up in the main draw. Oscar lost in a match tie-break in the final of the Grade 2 event. 

In the Indoor National Championships in Corby, Cameron Rae finished runner-up of the 11U draw. Cameron won his group and played his way to the final of the Grade 1 event. Cameron won the 11U doubles with partner Louis Garner. 

Meanwhile in the same draw, Fraser Newcombe made the singles quarter-final of the main draw and made the semi-final of the doubles with partner Jack Burch. 

James Mills also qualified out of his group to reach the main draw of the 11U draw. 

In the 11U girls’ draw, Matilda Kasselstrand qualified out of her group and proceeded to reach the semi-finals of the doubles draw with partner Isabella Grigaliunas. 

The 12U Indoor Nationals was held in Bolton. Kate Murray won five matches to qualify out of her group and reach the semi-finals of the girls’ draw. 

Kana Saito also qualified into the main draw before falling to compatriot Kate Murray. Kana reached the final of the doubles draw with partner Adwita Das Banerjee. 

In the boys’ event, Arthur Mackinlay qualified out of his group to reach the main draw of the singles. 

The 14U Lexus Junior Indoor Championships were held in Nottingham. Both Calean Mckechnie and Dominik Czopek qualified into the main draw before Dominik bested Caelan to reach the quarter-finals. 

Caelan made a strong run in the doubles, finishing runner-up with partner Brennan Coletta.