Mimi Xu and Jack Pinnington Jones headline British success in Aldershot
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There was British success at the ITF World Tennis Tour M25 W35 event in Aldershot this weekend with Mimi Xu lifting the women’s singles and doubles title alongside Naiktha Bains.
Jack Pinnington Jones also claimed the men’s title, with fellow Brits James Davis and Matthew Summers winning the men’s doubles title.
Wildcard entrant Xu had an impressive run to the final, only dropping only a single set to win the first ITF singles title of her career. The final saw the unseeded 16-year-old defeat American and fellow non seed, Haley Giavara 6-4, 6-1. En route to the final Xu overcame four players ranked higher than her, and upset the number two and six seeds.
Speaking after the victory, the rising British star said, “I feel really happy with myself, I managed to stay calm throughout the whole thing, ride the waves of the match. I am really happy to come out on top and win my first title.” Xu now heads off to Canada before competing at junior US Open.
In the men’s draw, Pinnington Jones won his first ITF singles title of 2024, defeating Murphy Cassone 6-0, 7-6(3). “It feels pretty good, I can’t complain. It’s not easy to win titles in tennis, you lose pretty much every week so when you win one you need to savour it and celebrate the wins when you can. It has been a great week.” This win marked Pinnington Jones fifth ITF singles title of his career.
There was continued British success in the men’s and women’s doubles draws. Xu's dream week continued as she partnered with Bains to win her first ITF W35 doubles title, comfortably defeating the fourth seeds Punnin Kovapitukted and Akiko Omae 6-4, 6-3. This was the British pairs first title win together.
“I’m happy to have got the win with Mimi,” Bains said after winning her 24th ITF doubles title. “This week as a whole I think we’ve played a lot better than the last two weeks together. Happy we finally got a win together!” Xu added “We’ve had a really good enjoyable week with more to come.”
The second seeded British male duo James Davis and Matthew Summers won their fourth ITF doubles title as a pair overcoming the Japanese pairing of Masamichi Imamura and Naoki Tajima 4-6, 6-3,12-10.
Tournament Director Piers Herfet-Jones said, “It was great to be back at Aldershot and to end this summer three-week block of Lexus GB Pro-Series events. A brilliant tournament this week as all titles were won by British players.
"Jack picking up his third ITF World Tour Tennis title and a special end to the week for Mimi at only 16 years old won her first professional singles title along with her second doubles title. This will give them great confidence for the rest of 2024. Thanks to the LTA and Lexus for their support and we look forward to returning to Aldershot in 2025.”
Full draws, results and further tournament information can be found here:
The full 2024 LTA Competitions Calendar can be found here.
