Surbiton | Van Uytvanck and Thompson claim grass court titles

Finals day at the LTA’s Surbiton Trophy saw Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck and Australia’s Jordan Thompson crowned champions of the W100 Women’s ITF event and the ATP Challenger events.

I love to play on grass, I think it’s a really nice centre court Alison van Uytvanck

In a repeat of the 2021 Nottingham Trophy final Van Uytvanck defeated Australian Arina Rodionova 7-6(3) 6-2 in 98-minutes to defend the ranking points she won at the same event last year. The Belgian, currently ranked 60 but with a career-high of 37, showed the grass-court prowess that took her to the Wimbledon round of 16 in 2018 to see off the challenge of the Australian in the first set, and accelerated in the second set to victory to claim her 20th singles title.

“I had a title to defend,” Van Uytvanck said following her win. “last year I won in Nottingham (Nottingham Trophy 2021) so I basically defended all of the points so I’m really happy. I love to play on grass so I’m really happy with the win.

“My level rose throughout the week. I just love to have the low bounces, the serves, it’s important you have to stay aggressive, that’s what I like a lot about the grass and that’s what I had to do. Also the variety with the slice is what I did today and be patient a little bit, so yeah happy about that.

“I wasn’t sure whether to come after Roland Garros but I’m so happy I came. I love to play on grass, I think it’s a really nice centre court.”

Jordan Thompson collected the men's Surbiton Trophy title

In the men’s final Thompson defeated Denis Kudla 7-5 6-3 in 94-minutes. There was very little to separate the players in the first set in a high-quality match. With two breaks apiece the set was heading to a tie-break when the Australian broke for a third time at 6-5 to take the set 7-5. Kudla was unable to find the form that had seen him defeat Andy Murray in the semi-final and Thompson ran away in the second set 6-3 to secure the victory and go one better than his runner-up position in the 2017 edition at Surbiton.

“It’s awesome to win the title here,” Thompson said. “ I thought I played a high-quality match today and I managed to come out on top and I couldn’t be happier. This Challenger is special and Denis and I both enjoy competing on grass courts like this. The clay swing was a little bit rough for me so I was really keen to get started on the lovely green stuff and it couldn’t have started any better.”