Andy Murray wins ATP Challenger title in promising buildup to Wimbledon

Andy Murray’s hopes of positioning himself for a deep run at Wimbledon continued to grow as he eased past Arthur Cazaux of France 6-4, 6-4 in Nottingham to secure his second consecutive ATP Challenger title on grass, extending his winning run to 10 matches over the past two weeks.

After opting not to compete at the French Open, Murray started his grass court season in Surbiton during the second week at Roland Garros, winning the title and dropping just one set en-route. With each match Murray’s confidence has continued to grow. He finished this tournament in Nottingham playing smooth, quality tennis against Cazaux, striking the ball sweetly as he neutralised the Frenchman’s weapons.

Murray will rise to 38th in the ATP rankings, his highest ranking since returning from hip surgery in 2019.

The question remains whether Murray will bring this form and efficiency against loftier competition at the two big events to come, Queen’s Club and Wimbledon. The 36-year-old has spoken frequently about his aim of being seeded for the grand slam tournaments, which means he would avoid facing a top player in the first two rounds.

Murray faces the seventh seed, Alex de Minaur, in the first round at Queen’s Club and he needs at least a quarter-final there in order to potentially be seeded at Wimbledon. During his victory speech, Murray talked about his hopes of seeing his four children later on Father’s Day when they shouted “we’re here” from the crowd.

“Oh my God, I didn’t know they were here,” he said. “I had no idea they were coming. They came last week for the final at Surbiton and they turned up and it started raining. So then they had to go home for the kids’ bedtime so they missed the end of the match. It’s great that they managed