Brown claims doubles title in Greece
Jamaica’s rising tennis star Dustin Brown has claimed his second title in two weeks.
Last Sunday, on the Greek island of Rhodos, Brown won the Ixian Grand Aegean Tennis Cup doubles title with German partner Simon Stadler, who had ousted the Jamaican in the second round of the singles event.
Brown and close friend Stadler — both unseeded in the doubles — defeated the British pair of Jonathan Marray and Jamie Murray 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 10-7 in a see-saw contest.
The doubles title is an important victory for the Jamaican, after losing 3-6, 6-2, 3-6 to Stadler in the second round of the singles.
“It is always a little difficult to play against friends and doubles partners. (But) I’m still working on that,” Brown said after the match.
Despite the early exit the tall Jamaican moved up two places in the singles to be ranked at 103rd after the latest ATP Rankings were released yesterday.
Naturally, his doubles rankings improved, moving up by 20 spots, to be ranked at 150th in the world. But it was Stadler, who was the biggest mover of all.
The 26-year-old German jumped 181 places in doubles and is now rank 339th.
Two weeks ago Brown won his first ATP Challenger title, the Soweto Open in South Africa and was duly seeded fifth in Greece.
An easy straight set victory (6-1, 6-4) over Robin Haase of Netherlands sent the big 6′ 5″ serve and volleyer into the second round. But thoughts of another Soweto sweep were removed when he was sent crashing by Stadler in an epic three-setter.
Brown immediately switched focus towards doubles with Stadler and the unseeded duo displayed strong mettle with wins over Israel’s Jonathan Erlich and Harel Levy (7-6(4), 4-6, 10-7) and the French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Adrian Mannarino (7-5, 3-6, 10-6) to advance to the semi-finals.
The Jamaican/German combination was unstoppable in the semis against second-seeded Thai brothers Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana, as they won 6-4, 3-6, 11-9.
The final was expected to be a close battle and it lived up to its billing with the first two sets decided by tie-breaks.
This meant the title was decided by a 10-point match tie-break with Brown and Stadler prevailing 10-7.
“Anyway I am still happy. In doubles and in singles my ranking has improved,” said Brown, who is seeking to break into the ATP top-100, which guarantees automatic entry at Wimbledon this year.