Andy Lapthorne and Aniek van Koot’s quests for a first British Open singles title finally ended on Sunday at Nottingham Tennis Centre, where Joachim Gerard lifted his second British Open men’s singles title since 2013.

It was sixth time lucky for Lapthorne and van Koot, although in reality luck didn’t come into it as both players justified top-seeding, with Lapthorne securing his first win in his last three matches against Heath Davidson in the quad singles final. Van Koot extended her winning streak against Lucy Shuker to 10 women’s singles matches that go back to Wimbledon 2018.

The first of Lapthorne’s five previous finals in Nottingham ended with an Australian champion as Dylan Alcott made a winning British Open debut. But having appeared unusually subdued in some of his earlier matches this year, Lapthorne came out with some strong and aggressive tennis from the start against Davidson, recording a 6-4 6-3 victory that’s seen him return to world No.3 this week, having dropped one place below David Wagner after Wimbledon.

"After losing here five times in the final, that was needed,” said Lapthorne. ”It’s just amazing to win here, I know what it’s like to lose here. I’ve lost finals from match point up and I’ve obviously lost to Heath in the last two tournaments. He’s been playing great. I knew I was going have to play well out here today.”

It’s 10 years since Van Koot reached the first of five successive British Open women’s singles finals, finishing runner-up to Esther Vergeer as the former world No. 1 claimed the last of her 12 British Open titles in 2012.

This year Van Koot made a later than expected debut in the draw after both Dana Mathewson and Jiske Griffioen both had to withdraw from their respective quarter-finals due to illness. But when she did start her campaign, Van Koot soon dismissed Chinese opponent Zhenzhen Zhu 6-4 6-1.

Griffioen’s withdrawal handed Pauline Deroulede a place in the semi-finals before the Frenchwoman took Lucy Shuker to three sets for the second match in a row between the two players. But Shuker held on to make her first British Open main draw singles final almost 20 years after her debut in Nottingham.

Come the final, Van Koot’s backhand slice caused particular problems for Shuker and while the Briton varied her game to achieve greater success in the second set, the world No. 3 held on for a 6-2 6-3 vicotry.

“It was very unlike myself I think I stayed calm throughout the match,” said Van Koot. Overall it was a very good week and a good match to end with. I felt very at home and very welcome, so Kirsty and Sophie (LTA Tournament Team), well done, keep it up and I’d love to see you next year again.”

In the week that he earned his debut inside the world’s top eight, Martin de la Puente had even more reason to celebrate as he reached his first British Open final after coming from a set down for his first career win over top seed Gordon Reid. That ended second seed Reid’s hopes of following up on Alfie’s Hewett’s victory in front of a home crowd in 2021.

Meanwhile, Gerard made seamless progress through the bottom of the draw, reaching the final with successive straight sets wins before the second seed eased to victory over De la Puente 6-0 6-4.

“I wanted to do my best and today I showed I can be there on the important points,” said Gerard. “I’ve had to wait nine years to win it again. I’ve made, I think, two or three finals in those nine years. I was unhappy to lose those, so it’s good to be back in the final and to win it. He’s a beast too! I knew it would be a battle today. From the first point I needed to be there and be the bigger beast on the court and I was, but in the second set I had to bring my A game.”