Joe Salisbury and his Danish partner Frederik Nielsen captured the first trophy of the weekend in Nottingham and Britain could have three more champions on Sunday as Dan Evans, Johanna Konta and Heather Watson prevailed in their respective semi-finals.
Salisbury and Nielsen defeated fourth seeds Austin Krajicek and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 7-6(5), 6-1 to lift the ATP Challenger doubles title. The result marks the pair’s second title together and puts them in great stead for the remainder of the grass-court season.
Earlier in the day, Dan Evans reached his tenth ATP Challenger final after battling back from a set down to beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in front of a sold-out Centre Court crowd. With rain delaying the final-four clash by an hour, former World No.19 Granollers began brightly and broke Evans’ opening service game, before the 2015 Davis Cup champion rallied to victory in one hour and 58 minutes.
Evans, 28, said: “It was good – not so much playing three sets. I just had a slow start. It was a great match, I thought he was smart in the first set and I didn’t really do much wrong. I know that I can get chances and in the end it was tough to close it out.
“I’ve got to give him a lot of credit. I thought I played really well and he batted my game as well as anyone this week. I thought it was a high level match and I can take some really good stuff from it. I’m just really happy with that match. It was a real good match to win.”
He will face Australian rising star Alex de Minaur for the title, who overcame Belarusian fourth seed Ilya Ivashka 6-2, 6-4.
In the WTA International tournament, British No.1 Johanna Konta continued her brilliant grass court form to defeat defending champion Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3. The 2017 Wimbledon semi-finalist breezed through the first set in half an hour before her Croatian opponent took a medical time-out for a lower back complaint, which was then followed by an hour-long rain delay. When play resumed, Konta broke the sixth seed’s serve three times in the second set to reach her first final in 12 months.
The result sets up a contest for the Elena Baltacha Trophy with Australian top seed Ashleigh Barty, who took down World No. 18 Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4. Ahead of the final clash, Konta said: “She’s a very talented, very crafty player. She loves this surface, she’s very vocal about loving this surface. I am sure she is going to be playing her best tennis.
“She’s improved a lot and is playing very well over the last year since she’s come back and getting better and better - which is a great challenge for me to play against someone who is in form. It’s a great opportunity for me to do my best and battle hard.”
Finally, Watson and her Romanian partner Mihaela Buzarnescu booked their place in the women’s doubles final with a 7-5, 6-1 triumph over Irina Falconi and Lizette Cabrera. The pair will battle third-seeded Alicja Rosolska of Poland and 2015 Nottingham doubles champion Abigail Spears for the crown first on Centre Court from 11:00 - .check out the order of play!