A Skupski Double! Neal Wins San Diego Title With Salisbury
Ken Skupski won a title on Sunday in Sofia alongside Jonny O’Mara. More than nine hours later and halfway across the world, Neal Skupski joined his older brother in the winners’ circle.
Top seeds Skupski and Joe Salisbury defeated third seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek 7-6(2), 3-6, 10-5 to win the San Diego Open.
“I think I had just woken up when I saw the result. But it was a nice feeling to start the day off with that win,” Neal said of Ken’s win. “For him to come back and bounce back and win a tournament in Sofia, it’s great.”
The Skupski Brothers triumphed in Acapulco this March before Ken hit a rough patch when he suffered a blood clot in his right leg. But now both brothers are playing well.
Salisbury and Skupski are not full-time partners — Salisbury recently won the US Open with Rajeev Ram and that team has clinched its spot at the Nitto ATP Finals. But when Salisbury and Skupski have played together, it has gone well.
Read Feature: From A Breakthrough To A Blood Clot, Skupski Brothers Sticking Together
The champions are now 10-1 in three tour-level appearances as a team. In 2018, they lifted an ATP 500 trophy in Vienna. Salisbury has won eight tour-level titles, and Skupski has claimed six.
“It’s been an amazing week. We’ve really enjoyed San Diego. Me and Joe, off the court we’re good friends and I think we gel together on the court,” Skupski said. “We’ve really enjoyed playing with each other this week.”
The Britons dominated on serve in the Match Tie-break, making all eight of their first serves and winning all of those points. That took the pressure off and Skupski finished off the victory with a big serve down the T that Polasek was unable to put back into the court.
“Obviously a great week for us. Going into it the goal was to win the tournament, but we didn’t know what to expect. We hadn’t played together for three years,” Salisbury said. “We maybe played our best tennis at the end of some of the matches, which is great. Really happy to get the title.”
Peers and Polasek became a team earlier this year, and they have found their stride. The Australian-Slovakian team made the US Open semi-finals and reached their first final together in San Diego.