Gordon Reid reached the fifth men’s doubles Grand Slam final of his career on Wednesday’s opening day of the Roland Garros wheelchair tennis event in Paris after extending his unbeaten record with partner Shingo Kunieda of Japan.
Earlier in the day Reid saw his singles campaign come to an end against 2011 Roland Garros champion Maikel Scheffers, while Jordanne Whiley will also now concentrate her efforts on trying to win a sixth successive Grand Slam doubles title after bowing out of the women’s singles to Dutch world No. 2 Jiske Griffioen.
British No. 1 Reid and Kunieda, who won their first tournament together at last month’s Japan Open Super Series, took their winning sequence to five matches after beating Michael Jeremiasz of France and Scheffers 6-3, 6-3 in their semi-final.
Reid and Kunieda gained the first breakthrough of the contest to take a 4-2 first set lead and three games later served out to take the opener 6-3. The second seeds again won the important points in the sixth game of the second set to establish another 4-2 lead, and this time secured their final break of serve to wrap up a victory that sees Reid move into his third successive Grand Slam doubles final.
The Scot was runner-up at the 2014 US Open partnering Scheffers and also runner-up at the Australian Open in January partnering Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez.
“I’m really happy with the way I played, I felt I had let myself down this morning in my singles quarter-final and I was glad I was able to play again so quickly,” said Reid, who will now contest his second Roland Garros doubles final after being runner-up in the doubles on his debut at the second Grand Slam of the year in 2013.
“It’s only the second tournament we have played together and it’s great playing with Shingo. I was more relaxed in the doubles and tomorrow we have a day off to practice and recharge ready for the final.”
Reid, who won the crucial match to secure Great Britain an historic first men’s World Group title on Sunday at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Turkey, could not find his best form in his opening singles match in Paris and Scheffers moved into the semi-finals 6-2, 6-3.
“In the first set I didn't win the important points and the set was over before I got into it,” said Reid. “I played better in the second set but made too many errors at key points. They say you sometimes learn from your defeats and I hope that's the case.”
Whiley recovered from 4-1 down in the opening set to get to within a game of second seed Griffioen in her singles quarter-final and then broke back to level the second set at 3-3 and 5-5 before Griffioen gained a narrow 6-4 7-5 win.
“I battled well after a slow start but am disappointed that I didn't take my chances, because overall I felt I played quite well,” said Whiley. “She beat me easily in Turkey last week (in Great Britain’s World Team Cup semi-final against the Netherlands), but this was a much closer match. I used my slice and drop shot to better effect, but I need to continue to work harder on my net game.
“Overall there were some good things to take forward, but I missed vital chances to win key points. I'm looking forward to tomorrow’s doubles and I hope Yui and I can continue our winning ways.”
Whiley and Kamiji, who completed the calendar year Grand Slam in 2014 before adding a second Australian Open title in January, will play Charlotte Famin of France and Sharon Walraven of the Netherlands in their semi-final in Paris on Thursday.
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