Jacob still on the rise despite setback

Tennis ace, Jacob Fearnley, is expected to resume his burgeoning tennis career at an ATP Challenger event, the Slovak Open, in Bratislava next week.

It is understood that the Edinburgh player has not yet been confirmed among entries for an event won in the past by the likes of Alexander Bublik, Lukas Rosol and Tallon Griekspoor but heading for Slovakia is definitely under consideration.

Qualifying for last week’s event in Basel – the Swiss Indoors – was a bitter sweet experience for the former Merchiston Tennis Academy student, and one-time Colinton club junior.

In the final qualifying round he did come within a couple of points of defeating Germany’s Daniel Altmaier before going down 5-7 in a deciding set tie-break in which he had to play constant catch up with an opponent whose serve proved unbreakable going down the home straight.

On the upside Jacob acquired sufficient ranking points to move from No 99 to No 92 in the world rankings as he targets a main draw place in January’s Australian Open and more full ATP tour events.

It is also a sign of the growing regard in which Jacob is held that he went into the Basel qualifier as a 1-4 favourite despite his opponent having been close to the top 50 not long ago.

Meanwhile, in another boost for Scottish tennis, Charlie Robertson, born in Dundee and raised in Forfar, finished third in the ITF world junior tour finals in China over the weekend.