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Welcome to the latest edition of the Australian file, your weekly look at the week in tennis from an Aussie perspective.
The final week of Wimbledon happened as some Australians competed in doubles at the pointy end of the tournament.
Others hit the Challenger and ITF circuit to taste success. Here is how the Aussies went last week.
Wimbledon
Just four Australians remained at Wimbledon in the second week after Nick Kyrgios was eliminated in the fourth round of singles.
One of them, John Peers, would make the final of the men’s doubles.
Partnering with Jamie Murray, the brother of Andy Murray, they made the final after two wins in the quarters and the semis.
They would fall short in the final though, losing in straight sets to Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.
It was still a brilliant tournament for the player who focused purely on doubles at the start of 2013.
Congratulations to @johnwpeers on a fabulous run to the Wimbledon men's doubles final with @JamieMurray pic.twitter.com/BxNMayttc7
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) July 11, 2015
Three other Aussies were involved last week with Casey Dellacqua, Jarmila Gajdosova, and Anastasia Rodionova playing doubles.
Dellacqua would make the quarter finals, with Yaroslava Shvedova, before losing to Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza who won the event.
Both Rodionova and Gajdosova, with different partners, would lose in the round of 16 in doubles.
That ended Australia’s campaign at Wimbledon.
It was our best event there in years but it was overshadowed by the off-field dramas which will not be highlighted here.
ATP Challenger
Three Challenger events were held in Winnetka (USA), Braunschweig (Germany) and Todi (Italy), as the series opened their arms to those that had lost in the first week of Wimbledon.
Plenty of Australians competed in Winnetka as they prepared for the American hard court season.
Four Aussies tried to qualify with Andrew Whittington able to do it with a straight set win over Ryan Haviland in the final round.
He joined two other Australians – Alex Bolt and Ben Mitchell – and be the only player from the land down under to reach the second round.
His run ended at the hands of Daniel Nguyen who ended up in the final.
Whittington and Bolt would also make the semi-finals in doubles but be forced to withdraw from the event to compete in the Newport ATP event this week.
In the other two Challengers, just one Aussie was involved.
Jason Kubler would qualify for the Braunschweig event in Germany but lose to Thiemo De Bakker 6-4 6-2 in the opening round.
ITF
There were 23 ITF events last week with plenty of success for the Aussies.
Leading the charge was Astra Sharma in Egypt at the 10,000 Sharm El Sheikh event.
After making the semi-finals the week before, she gained a special exempt – a free pass – in the main draw for the next event.
She made full use of the opportunity as the Western Australian steam rolled to the final.
This included a 6-2 6-1 thrashing of the number 1 seed in the semi-final.
In the final, she would defeat a local Egyptian player, to win her first ever title on the circuit.
She will now crack the top 700 in the world in a couple of weeks. She plays again in Egypt this week.
There was also success for other women around the world.
Sally Peers, the younger sister of John, made the semis in singles, and final in doubles, at the 10,000 Knokke event in Belgium.
The Victorian continued her good form after a couple of lean years on the tour.
In Spain, at the 10,000 Getxo event, Alexandra Nancarrow added another doubles title to her trophy cabinet.
It was her 18th title in doubles and is the third in three weeks for the Canberra player. She have five titles overall in the last three weeks.
#itf Here is Alexandra Nancarrow, with her trophy, after winning the doubles at 10,000 Getxo. It is her 18th title. pic.twitter.com/CVS1RMkUI9
— Shane Jones (@TennisResultsAu) July 12, 2015
There was also doubles success on the men’s side with Dayne Kelly triumphant at the Belgium F5 future event.
He partnered with a local Belgian player to win just his second doubles title.
It’s good to see Kelly have success on the court after gaining plenty of attention off it during his career.
#itf Here is Dayne Kelly, on the left, after winning the doubles at Belgium F5 this week. It is his 2nd doubles title pic.twitter.com/B2qRExkDu1
— Shane Jones (@TennisResultsAu) July 12, 2015
In England, Brad Mousley made his fourth straight doubles final, out of the last four events he has played.
This time, after partnering with Tuna Altuna in the first three, he competed with Evan Hoyt.
They lost in the final but Mousley is starting to climb up the doubles rankings again.
Jordan Thompson, in singles, would make the quarter finals at the Great Britain F6 event.
In the Netherlands, Maverick Banes would make the semis, before losing to the eventual winner in three sets.
Rankings
For the first time in two weeks, the rankings are back.
Bernard Tomic is still the number 1 male and is 25 in the world.
The big mover this week was John Millman who cracked the top 100 for the first time in his career.
His Wimbledon run, which got him to the second round, moved him into the milestone.
South Australian’s Luke Saville and Lleyton Hewitt, were the big losers, falling 41 and 161 spots respectively. Both are now outside of the top 200.
Omar Jasika would also crack the top 300 after his triumph in Canada last week. He is now 285 in the world.
Sam Stosur remains Australia’s highest female player and is 23 in the world.
Alexandra Nancarrow’s success in Serbia, two weeks ago, moved her up 32 spots in the world to 406. She will move higher again next week.
Olivia Rogowska is now outside of the top 200 after falling 42 spots to 224 in the world.
Finally John Peers moved to a career high ranking of 19 in doubles after his Wimbledon run.
Casey Dellacqua is the highest ranked female in doubles at 17.
This week
Two WTA events in Bastad and Bucharest headline the week for the women. In the ATP, one tournament is held in Newport – the home of the international tennis Hall of Fame.
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