admin
Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden clinched the women’s doubles title at the Lexus Nottingham Open on Sunday in a straight-sets victory in the final.
Having faced a seeded duo in their last two rounds, the all-British pair took on second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Shuko Aoyama and they produced an impressive display to win 6-3, 6-4.
Although Dart and Lumsden have reached the final on three occasions, the title marked their first at a WTA tour-level as a partnership.
“Thank you to my partner Harriet,” said doubles specialist Lumsden. “It’s been an amazing week, to get our first tour title together, we lost the final in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago so it’s great to go a step further. I always love playing with you and hopefully we can keep it going at Wimbledon.”
“It’s so nice to play on this court in front of so many people all week – I think the stands were full every day in our match so it’s such a nice feeling as that doesn’t happen every week, especially in doubles so thank you for coming.”
After both pairs took their time to settle in the showpiece event, Dart and Lumsden stamped their mark in the contest on home soil in the seventh game, converting their first break point before going on to close out the set after Aoyama sent a volley into the net.
Full of confidence after taking the first set, the British duo raced into a 5-1 lead in the second and despite a late comeback from the second seeds to bring it back to 5-4, they served out to win the match and seal the trophy at the WTA 250 event.
I think this is our third tournament this year,” Dart added. “To be able to finally pick up the trophy at a tour-level event is pretty special – especially being on home soil, it definitely makes it a little extra special.
“I’ve personally been coming here for many many years so it’s great to finally pick up the trophy, especially with one of my best friends – it’s just amazing.”
The British duo will team up once again later this month in the women’s doubles main draw at Wimbledon.
