Petchey and Wood win at Beckenham
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Mark Petchey completed a long-awaited British double by defeating Petr Korda 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Beckenham Open yesterday. It is the first time this century that British players have won both Beckenham singles titles as Petchey's triumph came 24 hours after Clare Wood captured the women's crown.
But the champagne Petchey received along with his pounds 5,000 cheque will stay unopened for several weeks. Petchey will postpone his celebrations until after next week's Stella Artois Championship at Queen's Club, the Nottingham Open and Wimbledon.
"The champagne will have to stay on ice," Petchey grinned. "You can't celebrate much or you'd never get up next morning, especially in this heat. Neither Clare nor I expected to win but it has turned out to be a great start to the grass-court season for British players."
Both Petchey and Wood swept to Beckenham success unseeded. Brighton's Wood, 28, beat the sixth seed Maria Vento of Venezuela 6-3, 6-2 to become the first home women's singles winner since Ann Jones in 1967, while Petchey is the first Briton to win the men's singles final since Murray Deloford in 1939.
Chris Bailey and Jeremy Bates failed in recent finals and Andrew Richardson had to share the title with Korda last year when rain prevented any play.
Petchey intelligently cramped Korda for room by serving into the Czech's body and reeled off a series of back-hand winners.
Korda recently led the Czech Republic to a surprise Davis Cup victory over America but he soon became rattled under pressure and received a code violation warning after whacking a ball out of court into a nearby road in frustration.
Petchey's Beckenham victims also included the British No 1, Tim Henman. He is full of confidence and eager for more success in the Stella tournament, which begins today.
He will start there against the 117th-ranked Italian Gianluca Pozzi and is in the same half of the draw as Boris Becker, Wayne Ferreira and Michael Stich, runner-up in the French Open.
Henman starts against the 16th-seeded Argentinian, Javier Frana, while Greg Rusedski plays a qualifier, Jeremy Bates meets the American Jared Palmer and Danny Sapsford takes on the London-based Swede Stefan Edberg at the first hurdle.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments