THERE will be an all-West Yorkshire final - indeed an all-Leeds final - in the men's singles at the Aegon British Tour at Ilkley tomorrow lunchtime.
Top seed Luke Johnson defeated fifth seed Brandon Murphy (Surrey) 6-1, 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 in his semi-final on Centre Court this afternoon, while sixth seed Clay Crawford was defeating second seed Sean Hodkin (Lincolnshire) 6-4, 6-2 on an adjacent court, with the matches finishing within minutes of each other.
The men's quarter-finals started on grass this morning but, after a sharp shower towards the end of the first sets, were transferred indoors.
Johnson defeated Samuel Archer 6-3, 6-2, 17-year-old Murphy put out third seed Henry Beesley 6-2, 6-1, Crawford despatched fourth seed Jack Gibbens 6-4, 6-1, and Hodkin beat seventh seed Michael Shaw 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Although both are from Leeds - Johnson is from Roundhay and Crawford from Seacroft - and play for Yorkshire, 23-year-old Johnson admitted: "We haven't played each other since the boys' under-12 singles final at Ilkley, which was ten or 11 years ago."
Johnson and Murphy dished up a high-quality semi-final, and the Sutton teenager did well to take the match to a final set, but then couldn't capitalise on breaking Johnson's serve when he had new balls in the first game of the final set.
Hodkin, who has just turned full-time and is awaiting his A-level results, said: "Conditions were quite difficult out there."
The women's singles finalists warmed up outdoors but, due to that shower, ended up playing indoors.
Emma Wilson won the 'battle of Newcastle' 6-3, 6-3 against Grace Dixon.
Wilson, 20, said: "I played really well and broke quite early in both sets."
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