Shenkman wins fourth British Amateur title
First player in 103 years to win four straight titles against four different opponents
Robert Shenkman has won the British Amateur Singles Championships for the fourth year running, defeating former champion Ed Kay in straight sets in the final at The Queen’s Club on Sunday.
Despite the two contenders holding six titles between them and at least one of them had played in every final since 2017, the pair had never faced off in a British Amateur singles final before. Their last meeting in the event had been in the semi-finals in 2022, won by Kay en route to his most recent championship. Yet over the last three editions, Shenkman proved to be the strongest, defeating Jamie Douglas, Jamie Giddins and Bertie Vallat in successive finals. Kay’s only other participation since 2022 had been an upset quarter-final loss to Will Flynn in 2023.
Shenkman went into the match looking to keep things simple, avoiding playing anything too flashy or extravagant and starving Kay of attacking opportunities. He hardly put a ball on the penthouse nor gave Kay a ball in the air on his volley. Though the game plan was similar to his semi-final against Benedict Yorston, where he restricted Yorston’s retrieving strength by looking for winners early, Shenkman’s approach was subtly different, focusing instead on making each ball as difficult as possible without hitting out-and-out winners. Shenkman won the first set in 18 minutes conceding just six points against.
Kay tried to force the issue going into the second set. He was more willing to play an attacking shot earlier in the rally, at the risk of overextending too early. Shenkman continued to be a defensive wall, refusing to give any latitude to Kay. When Kay left a ball to lose a chase and hence won his first game of the match, in the tenth game the crowd let out a round of applause and Kay wore a wry smile. Shenkman refused to let Kay get back into the match, hitting grilles and winning galleries at will to shut Kay out of the remaining games in the second set. Even so, it took him eight attempts to find the final point of the set.
Kay made Shenkman work for his points in the third set, as the defending champion wasn’t as incisive in his shots as he was in the first set. Though the first four games were evenly split, once Shenkman recovered his composure he won through the last four easily to secure victory.
Shenkman’s win makes him the first player since Julian Snow to win four back-to-back British Amateur titles, who completed his streak of 15 titles in 2005. He also becomes the first player since Edgar Baerlein in 1920-23 to win four consecutive titles against four different opponents. It was the biggest margin of victory in a British Amateur singles final since Jamie Douglas’s victory over Peter Wright in 2010.
Match results:
2:30 PM: Robert Shenkman (1) def Ed Kay (2) 6/0 6/1 6/2
