Nature Valley Open: No. 1 seed Evans clinches back-to-back home titles

British No. 3 Dan Evans has won his second consecutive grass court title on home soil, beating Russian No.13 seed Evgeny Donskoy 7-6(3), 6-3 to clinch the ATP Challenger singles title and lift the Paul Hutchins Trophy.

The Birmingham-born home favourite took to Centre Court on Sunday evening after winning his semi-final earlier in the day, with the week-long rain disruption pushing the final rounds of the men’s schedule into the last day.

Having reached the final two at the Nature Valley Open last year, top seed Evans continued his fine form this summer despite the tough conditions, defeating both of his Sunday opponents in straight sets to secure his eighth Challenger title after success at the LTA’s Surbiton Trophy last week.

“It’s been a good week, carrying on strongly from last week,” the 29-year-old said. “I played very well in the first match [today]. The second match, I was a bit frustrated and I was very tired. But I didn’t lose a set today, so I can’t be too unhappy. I played well out there, despite the wind.”

And with the men’s singles trophy being renamed in honour of Britain’s longest serving Davis Cup Captain and former Head of Men’s and Women’s Tennis, the crown is an extra special one for Evans.

“It’s amazing to be the first winner of the Paul Hutchins Trophy – he was a massive part of me growing up. He was here last year and it feels a bit empty without him this year. It was really good to win, and hopefully he watched down on that,” Evans said at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, where Hutchins was also Tournament Director of the Nottingham Open."

In the women's final, French top seed Caroline Garcia came from a set down to defeat second seed Donna Vekic 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(4) and clinch the WTA International singles title.

The World No. 28, who has now won two of her seven WTA singles titles on grass, had a slow start in the opening set as Vekic raced to a 4-0 lead at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, including a run of 13 unanswered points as the Croatian made just two unforced errors.

But the second set was a much tighter contest, with the pair exchanging a couple of service breaks before Garcia edged the tie-break. Neither player forced a break point in the deciding set, and the 25-year-old held her nerve in the tie-break again to win her first title of the year. 

“I think the crowd was pretty amazing today and I hope they really enjoyed it, because they didn’t have the chance to see a lot of tennis throughout the week." Garcia said. 

She continued: “For sure, for us [players] it was difficult, but for the tournament and all the sponsors and fans, it was even more difficult. I enjoyed what I could, and I think we got lucky to have the indoors facilities. Everyone from the tournament did a great job, and I’ve definitely enjoyed my stay in Nottingham.”

In the Women's Doubles Final, Giuliana Olmos and Desirae Krawczyk beat Australian pair Rodionova and Perez 7-6(5), 7-5 to claim the title and in the Men's Doubles Final it was the pairng of Gonzalez and Qureshi who claimed the trophy beating Chinese duo Gong and Zhang 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-5.