GB No.1 Christian Murphy was the toast of Stratford after winning the second FIP RISE title of his career in front of his home crowd in East London on Sunday (13 October).
Christian, currently the world no.126, will see his ranking push closer to the much-coveted top 100 after partnering Spain’s Alberto Garcia Jimenez to a 6-3 6-4 victory against Spanish duo Manuel Herrera and Roberto Pastor in the men’s final.
The Alicante-based player has clocked up plenty of air miles on the Premier Padel tour this year, picking up ranking points by battling away in the elite-level qualifying rounds, as well as consistently reaching the latter stages of FIP RISE events (the fourth of the five tiers on the international circuit).
Christian’s Stratford title was his third on tour overall and his first since winning the FIP RISE Cairo in April alongside Bera Vera Lopez.
Re-watch the FIP RISE Stratford finals on the FIP YouTube channel:
Christian reflected: “It’s so good to win a FIP RISE, especially in London. The level was so, so high, with players playing Premier Padel coming here, and young pairs who are now as well known, like our opponents in the final who performed so well. The level was so tight. All the work we’ve been doing every day, throughout the years is paying off. We couldn’t be happier!”
He was the only Brit to make it beyond the round of 16 in Stratford, with Alfonso Patacho and Chris Salisbury going down 6-4 7-6 at that stage to Argentines Eduardo Torre and Juan Rubini and Sam MacNeil and Nikhil Mohindra defeated 7-5 6-3 by Alvaro Luque and Agustin Reca. Guernsey-based Olly Cull partnered Spain’s Pau Minano Ortinez and battled to a creditable 6-7 6-1 6-2 defeat to Christian and Manuel.
In the first round, Christian and Manuel had overcome GB no.3 Louie Harris and UK-based Spaniard Rafa Vega 6-3 7-6.
In the Stratford women’s draw, there were high hopes for GB star Tia Norton and Dutch partner Stefanie Weterings after their run to the FIP RISE final in Sassuolo, Italy, last week. However they unfortunately ran into top seeds and eventual title winners Agueda Perez Ortiz and Patricia Martinez Fortun of Spain and lost 6-3 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
Otherwise it was GB no.3 Catherine Rose who carried the union flag the furthest, playing alongside Spain’s Ainize Santamaria Landa, before their loss to fifth seeds Natividad Lopez Diaz and Lucia Garcia Trella in the round of 16.
GB women’s no.2 Aimee Gibson opted to travel to Croatia for the FIP PROMOTION Open Porec-Parenzo where she reached her ninth semi-final of the year. The Essex left-hander and Dutch partner Maaike Betz were knocked out 3-6 6-4 3-6 by eventual winners Caterina Maria Baldi and Giulia Dal Pozzo of Italy.
Top pic (l-r): Alberto Garcia Jimenez, R3 founder Jonathan Rowland, GB men’s coach John Leach and Christian Murphy
