Wrexham | Logan and Smith lift the doubles title in Wales

It was an all British affair in the men’s doubles final when top seeds Ruairi Logan and Scott Smith took on fellow Brits Ben Johnson-Rolfe and Mark Langeveld at the ITF Futures event in Wrexham this weekend.

You just want to go out and do what you do right and I think we did that today Ruairi Logan

The match was a replay of the semi-final that was played at the Futures event in Sheffield earlier this year which saw Logan and Smith progress to the final, winning in straight sets 6-2 6-2.

And once again it was the top seeds who took the win in this exchange, earning themselves another straight set victory in the process, defeating Johnson-Rolfe and Langeveld 6-3 6-2.

The pairing had shown some some impressive form over the tournament and took the Wrexham title without dropping a set, much like they did in Sheffield.

Smith said: “We knew that each match was going to be competitive here and it was a good match today.”

“There weren’t very many long rallies as such and I’d say it was probably good shots that won it.”

Logan continued: “You just want to go out and do what you do right and I think we did that today.

“It’s a lovely tournament here and it’s really nice being around all of these players.”

The win in Wrexham sees the Logan-Smith partnership lift their second Futures doubles title of 2017 together, having won their first in Sheffield in April.

About his partner Smith, Logan joked: “He’s alright you know, sometimes he could be better.”

And laughing with him Smith added about Logan: “Likewise, I mean he’s good when he’s concentrating.”

And good news for fans as it looks like this partnership is going continue for a long time to come, with the pair planning to hopefully compete at Nationals together at the end of the year.

Earlier in the day 15-year-old Logan had also played in the semi-finals of the men’s singles.

Although the result didn’t go his way, bowing out to the eventual champion Asif Abbasi 7-6(1) 4-6, there was much to celebrate about his performance.

Including a stunning comeback from 5-0 down to force a tie-break in the first set, showing not only his grit and determination never giving up until the final point was played but also his potential to be the next name we’ll all be talking about in British tennis.

Another double for Un

Turkey’s Busra Un might have been playing in only her second event since competing in the Rio Paralympics but that didn’t stop her taking Wrexham by storm, winning both the singles and doubles title at the 2017 event.

The former World number 30 took on Britain’s Fay Dutfield-Horton in the final and came out on top in straight sets 6-2 6-0, adding the singles title to the doubles title she had already won the day before alongside Britain’s Val Fisher.

This means that Un has now done the double at Futures events twice in as many months, having also won both the singles and doubles titles at the Vilnius Open in Lithuania in early September.

Dutfield-Horton too can be proud of her achievement in finishing runner-up at the event.

Not only did she make the final on her ITF Futures debut, on the way she clocked some strong wins against the number two and three seeded players in the competition.

Abbasi lifts the men’s title

In the men’s singles it was Pakistan’s Asif Abbasi who took the title in straight sets 6-2 6-4.

At the other end of the net in this final was Britain’s Antony Cotterill, who was looking for his first men’s open division singles title on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.

Earlier in the day Cotterill, currently ranked World number eight in singles and number three in doubles in the quads division, had progressed to the final after an impressive straight sets semi-final victory over seventh seed John Lambert 6-3 6-0.

But Abbasi, who has already earned a hat trick of ROMA National Wheelchair Series singles titles in 2017, proved too strong in the final and took the match and the title having not dropped a set all tournament.