Evans claims Glasgow Glory

Warwickshire's Daniel Evans has capped off a superb week by claiming his third futures title after his fellow British opponent Marcus Willis was forced to retire in the second set of the Glasgow final.

Evans was leading the all British affair 6-3 2-1 when Willis appeared to injure his left leg as he called for the trainer and subsequently retired, handing Evans a well deserved title.

When the next rankings are announced it is widely believed that Evans will break into the top 500 for the first time after an extremely impressive year so far as he looks to make his way up the tennis ladder.

Both players have had a fantastic week in Scotland, with Willis defeating top seed Simone Vagnozzi as well as coming though two gruelling three setters, and unfortunately for him, Evans was a step too far.

As for Evans, he really demonstrated his excellent mental strength as he had to come through three setters in every round up until the final, which really shows that he has the necessary characteristics in order to fulfill and maximise his potential.

Evans will look to continue his rich vein of form when he competes in another futures event in London next week while Willis will anxiously be waiting to discover the extent of his injury.

Brilliant Murray retains St.Petersburg title

Andrew Murray easily disposed of Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev to successfully defend his St.Petersburg crown and claim his fifth title of the year.

Murray impressivley sealed the 6-1 6-1 victory in less than an hour to maintain his superb run of form which has seen him win 23 out of his last 25 matches.

Murray is the first Brit to win back-to-back tour titles since 1975 when Mark Cox won successive titles in London and Washington, and Murray has also now won more titles in a season than any other Brit.

His opponent, Golubev, ranked 150th in the world, was competing in his first ATP final after a fantastic week but the occasion seemed to get the better of him as the Scot raced to a comprensive victory in 58 minutes.

The scot showed no signs of fatigue as he clinched the tournament win without losing a set all week, and will go into the Paris Masters next week full of confidence.

The British number one has been handed a difficult draw in the french capital as he faces either Sam Querrey or Marcos Baghdatis in the second round next week.

(Picture provided by Ocscar Alonso Algote)

Vintage Murray eases past tricky Gulbis

Andrew Murray impressively disposed of potentially tricky opponent Ernests Gulbis to book his place in the quarter-finals of the St.Petersburg Open.

The Scot continued his remarkable run of form as he cruised past the talented Latvian 6-4 6-2 to set up a last eight match up against Serbian Janko Tipsarevic after he defetaed France's Jeremy Chardy in straight sets.

Murray broke the Gulbis serve twice in both sets as maintained the fantastic form which saw him claim his second Masters Series title in Madrid last week. The Scot has now impressively won 15 of his last 16 matches on tour.

The British number one remains on course for his fifth title of the season as he looks to continue his form going into the end of season Masters Cup in Shanghai in November and will look to overcome Tipsarevic in what should be an extremely interesting match up.

Tipsarevic interestingly holds a 2-1 lead in their head to heads so the Brit will be looking to gain revenge and get back on level terms against the world number 48 in today's encounter.

Elsewhere, 14-year-old Laura Robson suffered her second defeat in Luxemburg has her and doubles partner Gisela Dulko went out in the first round, losing 6-2 6-3 to Vera Dushevina and Mariya Koryttseva.

Men's boss Hutchins ends LTA role

Paul Hutchins will stand down as the Lawn Tennis Association's head of men's tennis at the end of 2008.
His role will be taken on by current LTA employees Steven Martens, Paul Annacone and Leon Smith.
Hutchins, a former Davis Cup captain, will continue to work on other projects for the LTA.

(BBC SPORT website)

Brave Robson bows out as Murray ensures safe passage through

Talented British teenager Laura Robson produced an extremely encouraging display as she lost her first ever WTA tour match in a tight three set encounter against world number 42 Iveta Benesova.

Robson, aged just 14, became the youngest ever Briton to play in a main tour event and played some fantastic tennis despite going down 1-6 6-2 6-3 in Luxembourg.

The Junior Wimbledon champion showed no signs of nerves early on and remarkably raced through the first set, winning it 6-1, before her vastly experienced opponent clawed her way back into the match before clinching victory to book her place in round two.

This will no doubt have been a hugely beneficial experience for Robson, who will now return to playing junior tennis. This display will have given her a huge amount of confidence as she looks to climb up the tennis ladder and fulfill her vast amount of talent and potential. Robson is definitely a rising star to look out for in years to come.

Elsewhere, Andrew Murray continued his rich vein of form by brezing past Serbia's Victor Troicki in the first round of the St.Petersburg Open. The top seed and defending champion showed no signs of fatigue as he booked his place in round two with a convincing 6-3 6-3 win in Russia. Murray faces a much tougher opponent next with talented Latvian Ernests Gulbis waiting in round two.

(Photograph provided by Colin Jackson)

Murray better than Henman?

Andy Murray's remarks today raised the interesting debate as to whether he is, in fact, better than former British number one Tim Henman.
Speaking after his triumph in Madrid, Murray claimed that he had long way to go if he is to achieve as much as the former world number four.
"Tim was definitely much, much better than me," said Murray.
"Over eight or nine years he was in the top 10, always playing well in Wimbledon, making the semi-finals in all the Grand Slams (except the Australian Open).
"I've only passed the semis once, I still have a long way to achieve what he did."
This is an extremely fair reflection of his career so far and it is pleasing to see the realisation that he still has a long way to go if he is to achieve his long term goals. After such a successful year, the key to the rest of Murray's career will be consistency and if he can sustain this current success there is no doubt that he can go a long way and achieve everytihng he wants to.

It is early in his career, but it is also still important to reflect on what has been a tremendous year for Murray and he was evidently delighted after a fantastic week in Madrid: "This was huge for me.
"Although Tim and Greg have achieved a lot more than I have over a long period in tennis, I've done something that neither of them were able to do," said Murray.

Murray has had an outstanding year and he clearly possesses a huge amount of talent, and providing he has no injuries next year, i predict that next year could be even better, and if he is able to claim a miaden grand slam i would suggest that he is in fact destined to have a better overall career that Tim Henman.

Henman had a fantastic career, dmeonstrating an incedible amount of consistency, but his inability to win a grand slam will always be taken into consideration when he is compared to Murray over the next few years.

Ultimately, Murray is correct in saying that he has a way to go before he rivals Henman's careeer but i feel that he most certainly has the potential to have a more successful career, as i believe that barring injuries he will be a grand slam chapion sometime in the near future.

Majestic Murray is Madrid Master!

British number one Andrew Murray capped off a sensational week in Madrid by becoming the first Brit to win two Masters Series titles after defeating Gilles Simon 6-4 7-6 (8-6).

Murray followed up his memorable semi-final win over Roger Federer by battling to an unconvincing straight sets victory over a tired Simon, who was still recovering from his dramatic three set win over world number one Rafael Nadal.

It was by no means a classic, but Murray demonstrated his grit and determination to overcome the talented Frenchman and ensure that he claimed back to back Masters Series titles and become the first Briton to win four ATP titles in a season.

It was a cagey start as both players were unable to gain the initiative, until the Scot assumed control by breaking in the fifth game after converting on his third break point.

Murray kept his nose ahead and emphatically served the set out with three aces at 5-4 to claim the first set of this best of three encounter, which left the weary Simon with a mountain to climb.

The standard of tennis was not at it's highest but both players held serve with relative ease throughout the second set and it had to be settled by a dramatic tiebreak.

An exhausted Simon gained the upper hand in the second set tie break and held two set points at 6-4, only for Murray to produce some inspirational tennis to save both, Murray then hit a scintillating return to give himself match point and he sealed a tremendous victory when Simon went wide with a forehand.

Murray will head to St.Petersburg next week full of confidence as he looks to defend the title he won last year and continue his rich vein of form before the end-of-season Masters Cup at Shanghai.