Day seven: Paul crowned King of Queen's Club while Skupski and Venus take home the doubles title
Our 2024 cinch Championships titlists have been crowned, as Tommy Paul reigned supreme in the singles and Neal Skupski and Michael Venusearned their first trophy as a doubles partnership.
American tennis star Paulemerged victorious at the Queen's Club after defeating world No.30 Lorenzo Musetti 6-1, 7-6(8) to claim his maiden grass court title.
Paul now becomes the ninth American man in the Open Era to lift the coveted cinch Championships silverware and will tomorrow become the new American No.1, overtaking Taylor Fritz.
Paul came out firing from the get-go, looking to take all time away from his Italian opponent as he raced ahead to a 3-0 lead. Despite Musetti landing a solid 61% of first serves, he won only 45% of points behind it as Paul dominated on return - eventually wrapping up a ruthless opening set with a double break.
Into the second they went and world No.30 Musetti looked to reset, as he eventually snapped the American’s three game win streak. In similar fashion to the first set, it was Paul who found the initial breakthrough at 4-3 to give him the chance to close out the match with ease. However, it was now or never for the Italian, who dug deep to get an immediate break back with an outstanding backhand down the line and be handed a lifeline in the final showdown.
With the 22-year-old carrying the momentum on his back, he sprinted to a 4-1 lead but a mis-hit drop shot that plummeted into the net gifted the mini-break back to the American before he went on to close out the victory on his third match point.
Doubles
Meanwhile, Skupski and Venus sealed their first title as a partnership, after clawing past Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 in the men’s doubles final.
Both pairs remained solid behind their serves, with neither facing a break point until 4-4 in the opener where Khachanov and Fritz sprinted to a break to love, before consolidating to take a one set advantage.
The British, Kiwi duo fought toe-to-toe against the singles stars in a bid to shift the momentum in the second set. Having caught sight of a break point at 4-4, Fritz and Khachanov soon batted away any threat, as we headed towards a tie-break which would fall the way of Skupski and Venus.
With the title in touching distance for both teams, it was the seventh seeds who raised their level in the match deciding tie-break. Having won 88% of points behind their first serve across the match, Skupski and Venus proved hard to break down as they grasped a hold of a crucial break to take control, before seeing out the victory on their third match point.
Wheelchair exhibition
Alfie Hewett insists the foundations of his grass-court season have been laid as he won the men’s wheelchair singles at the cinch Championships.
Against doubles partner Gordon Reid, Hewett took the first set 6-4 and was forced to a match tie-break in the second by 32-year-old Reid who went on to level the tie. However, Hewett eventually re-founs his form as he earned the win in three-sets.
Following their singles final, Hewett and Reid teamed up to face Joachim Gerard and Tom Egberink in the doubles final where they suffered a 7-5, 6-2 defeat.
Hewett said, “As players, you want to get as much grass court action under your belt, and what better way to do it than here in London? All four players who are here are really good grass court players and it’s very early on with the transition and winning both matches is something I can build on.
“We’re building towards the end which is Wimbledon but to be here in front of so many fans, this is the best crowd we’ve had consistently. We’ve got so many opportunities to showcase our sport at such a prestigious and big event, it’s massive for us and it really helps increase that visibility. It’s not just about the grass and the tennis, it’s something so much more powerful than that.”
Reid and Hewett equalled the overall record for Grand Slam doubles titles won by any partnership earlier this month, winning their fifth Roland Garros title together on the Parisian clay.
Back on grass, the five-time Wimbledon doubles champions will head to the Rothesay International Eastbourne next week before the Lexus British Open Roehamptonto maximise their preparations for SW19.
Reid added, “It was a good couple of days, we’re straight into the action after a few days off on clay. Wimbledon is the big one and we want to peak for that. It’ll be a great opportunity to be at Eastbourne again which is the first time we’ve had a full ranking event there which will be great.
“It’s a new-look grass season for us and it’s exciting. I was happy to get the minutes under the belt on court and I’m looking forward to next week now.”
This section of the article was co-written with Abi Curran at SportsBeat.
