Melbourne, Australia, 22 July 2024 | Matt Trollope

In his third career final, James McCabe broke through for his first professional title at the ITF Futures tournament in Nottingham.

The 21-year-old’s milestone was one of several notable results achieved by Australians in the past week.

Aleksandar Vukic, Alex Bolt and Astra Sharma reached tour-level singles quarterfinals, while Jaimee Fourlis and Petra Hule combined to win the ITF clay-court doubles title in Darmstadt, Germany.

This week’s most outstanding performers include:

James McCabe: McCabe, 21, was the top seed at the M25 hard-court event in Nottingham and won the singles title without dropping a set. He was most dominant in the final, beating Brit George Loffhagen 6-0 6-1 to win his 33rd match of the year. The result is expected to push the Aussie towards the top 300.

Jaimee Fourlis: Combining with Petra Hule, Fourlis hoisted the doubles trophy at the W35 ITF event in Darmstadt, Germany. It was the pair’s second straight title. Fourlis also reached the singles quarterfinals in Darmstadt, winning four matches in a row after beginning the week in qualifying.

Petra Hule: Alongside Fourlis, Hule beat Karolina Kubanova and Sapfo Sakellaridi 7-6(6) 6-4 in the Darmstadt final to capture her seventh career ITF doubles title. She and Fourlis began their partnership in June and have already built a 12-2 record, winning back-to-back titles.

Blake Ellis: Ellis was another doubles finalist at ITF level, combining with fellow Aussie Joshua Charlton to finish runner-up in Nottingham. Ellis improves to 26-12 on the doubles court in 2024.

Joshua Charlton: By reaching the ITF Nottingham final alongside Ellis, Charlton is now 31-8 in doubles in 2024, having reached eight finals with various partners. He and Ellis are 14-3 as a combination this season, this being their fourth final together.

Aleksandar Vukic: Vukic continued his solid form on grass in 2024, advancing to the ATP Newport quarterfinals in singles – a result pushing his live ranking up to world No.60. Vukic also advanced to the doubles semifinals alongside Luke Saville.

Luke Saville: Saville’s doubles semifinal finish in Newport, partnering Vukic, was his best result at tour-level in 2024. Saville is now 19-12 on the doubles court across all professional levels this year and is projected to return to the world’s top 150.

Tina Smith: The Aussie 22-year-old advanced to the quarters on clay in Casablanca, Morocco – her fourth singles semifinal of the season. Smith has now reached ITF semifinals on all three surfaces after winning three matches at the W15 event in Casablanca.

Astra Sharma: Sharma beat fellow Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic in Palermo to reach her first singles quarterfinal of the season, and first at tour-level since 2022. Sharma pushed eventual finalist Karolina Muchova to two tiebreaks in the Palermo quarters.

Alex Bolt: Bolt continues to excel on grass, reaching the quarterfinals at the ATP event in Newport. Bolt came through two rounds of qualifying and has won 12 of his past 16 matches on grass since the beginning of June. He is projected to rise to world No.175.

Lizette Cabrera: Cabrera and fellow Australian Gabriella Da Silva-Fick reached their third semifinal together as a team in 2024, this time on the hard courts of Porto, Portugal, an ITF W75 event.

Gabriella Da Silva-Fick: 23-year-old Da Silva-Fick won two matches alongside Cabrera to reach the ITF Porto semis.

Ellen Perez: In an encouraging result on clay ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, Perez and first-time partner Timea Babos won through to the WTA Budapest doubles semifinals. The result improves Perez’s doubles record to 32-17 in 2024.

Melisa Ercan: Ercan came incredibly close to her first W100-level semifinal on the ITF circuit, before bowing out 2-6 7-5 7-6(5) to Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. It means the 18-year-old has won more than 20 matches on the ITF circuit this season and improved her ranking – which began outside the top 500 – by almost 200 places.

Maya Joint: Joint, 18, was the No.4 seed at the ITF hard-court event in Porto and advanced to the quarterfinals, her 13th ITF singles quarterfinal of the season. Joint began the year ranked 684th but is projected to rise to world No.159 with this result.

Blake Mott: Mott reached his second consecutive ITF quarterfinal in Nottingham, losing in two tight sets and just missing the chance to set up an all-Aussie semifinal with eventual champion McCabe.