Boasting their highest career rankings of world No. 3 and 5, James Stout & Greg McArthur continued their ascent on the SDA tour with their second title of the season—the SDA Gold Baltimore Cup at the Baltimore Country Club in Maryland.
Stout & McArthur, who won Sleepy Hollow in December, nearly collected their second title of the season two weeks prior to the Baltimore Cup at the North American Open as the top seeds, falling just short in a five-game final against Robin Clarke & Zac Alexander.
“It’s always nice to bounce back from a loss with a victory like this,” McArthur said. “I was really disappointed after the NAO final loss. I felt like I wasn’t at my best, so was determined to prepare better for this tournament and it seems to have paid off.”
“After playing a great tournament in the North American Open and falling just short in the final, we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could do one better in this event,” Stout said.
The motivation to improve on their NAO result shone through as Stout & McArthur entered the draw as two seeds, opposing top seeds Bernardo Samper & Yvain Badan.
Stout & McArthur progressed to the final without dropping a game, including a semifinal win over Canadian three seeds Will Mariani & Thomas Brinkman.
Americans Graham Bassett & William Hartigan pulled off the tournament’s biggest upset in the quarterfinals, taking out four seeds Omar El Kashef & Jordan Greenberg in three games. Bassett & Hartigan continued their momentum against Samper & Badan in the semis, earning a 2-1 advantage, but the top seeds bounced back to reach the final in five games 15-13, 12-15, 14-15, 15-7, 15-8.
The final set up a rematch of the Sleepy Hollow final between the top two seeds, and yielded the same result with Stout & McArthur clinching the title in four games 15-12, 11-15, 15-10, 15-7.
“We had a couple of close games in the earlier matches and went into the final excited to play Bernardo and Swiss in another final,” Stout said. “Greg has been playing some of the best doubles I have seen from him over the past couple of months, and he continued that form throughout the final, moving the ball around and hitting winners from some ridiculous positions. Bernardo and Swiss were great opponents and will surely come back stronger with a couple of big events coming up in the near future.”
The result will bolster the top five rankings that both players achieved this month, after edging Badan, world No. 4, and Samper, world No. 6.
“It’s been an exciting season so far,” McArthur said. “I feel like every event has had three or four teams that could potentially win it. I’m just happy that James and I keep giving ourselves chances to win. James and I have good chemistry on the court. We play to each other’s strengths and feel that when we are at our best we can beat any team. Big thank you to Wade Johnston and all the members at Baltimore Country Club for a fantastic tournament.”
Stout & McArthur enjoyed a successful end to the 2017-2018 season, earning two titles in April and May. In addition to their Sleepy Hollow title this season, Stout marks his third title of the season having won the Westchester Country Club Pro Doubles with Badan.
“We are both excited to have broken into the top 5 in the world this month, and join a distinguished list of players that have gotten that high,” Stout said. “We are enjoying being on tour with a great group of pros, at all of the different events, and meeting the local players and supporters that make the game possible.”
