Nottingham Open 2023: Andy Murray beats Arthur Cazaux in final to win title 

Andy Murray won the Nottingham Open for back-to-back grass-court titles to maintain a perfect Wimbledon build-up.

A week after victory in the Surbiton Trophy, the 36-year-old hoisted more silverware with a 6-4 6-4 victory over France’s Arthur Cazaux in Nottingham.

He will return to the world’s top 40 on Monday and will seek more wins at Queen’s to amass enough ranking points to be one of 32 seeds at Wimbledon.

Katie Boulter faces fellow Briton Jodie Burrage in the women’s final on Sunday.

There is also a chance of British success at the event in the women’s doubles, with Heather Watson and Harriet Dart taking on Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel. That comes after Jacob Fearnley and Johannus Monday won the all-British men’s doubles final against Liam Broady and Jonny O’Mara on Saturday.

Before last week it had been seven years since Murray had won a singles title on grass, but the Scot now has two in seven days.

And he has achieved this one without dropping a set.

The former world number one got off to a fast start against Cazaux in a final that had been brought forward because of bad weather forecast for later in the day, going a double break ahead against the 20-year-old world number 181.

The top seed was broken to love by the qualifier while serving for the first set, although then served it out to love at the second time of asking, sealing it with an ace after a series of winners that wrongfooted his opponent.

The Frenchman made it more of a contest in the second set but Murray made the key breakthrough at 4-4 when Cazaux netted twice in succession to hand the Briton a break that left him serving for the match.

A stunning backhand down the line put him two points from victory before Cazaux netted a service return and Murray wrapped up victory on his first match point when the Frenchman hit long.

Murray is enjoying good form at just the right time, with Wimbledon – where he is a two-time champion – beginning on 3 July.

But these Nottingham and Surbiton titles have come at Challenger events – the second tier of men’s tennis – and he will face a notable step up in the quality of the field at his next event at Queen’s, which starts on Monday.

There he will be unseeded and has been handed a tricky first-round draw against Australian seventh seed and world number 18 Alex de Minaur.

But he can take a lot of confidence into the London event with a winning streak of 10 matches on grass, with just one set dropped, and looking physically fit on the court – the importance of which, four years after hip surgery nearly ended his career, cannot be overstated.