Great Britain’s Andy Lapthorne and Peter Norfolk successfully retained their Australian Open quad doubles wheelchair tennis title on Thursday at Melbourne Park after they beat Israeli Noam Gershony and American David Wagner 6-4, 6-2.
Lapthorne and Norfolk secured an immediate break at the start of the final, only for Gershony and Wagner to level the match at 2-2, but three games in succession gave the Brits a healthy first set advantage.
Despite Gershony and Wagner retrieving one of the breaks, Lapthorne and Norfolk held on to take the set after 38 minutes.
More solid tennis saw them subsequently build a 5-1 second set lead. Gershony and Wagner held serve to reduce their deficit, but a confident service game from Norfolk brought up two match points, the second of which Lapthorne and Norfolk converted to win their second successive Australian Open title after an hour and 13 minutes.
“I’m feeling ecstatic about winning my second Grand Slam title. I have a new first this year, retaining a title, so I’m also happy about that. Me and Pete played very well as a team today, he gave me the right words of encouragement at the right time,” said Lapthorne.
“It was a fabulous result today, for me coming back from my injury I have had a long hard day and have not only come through pain free, but with two wins. The young one worked hard today and set me up nicely for some great points.
“It was tough in patches but as a team we talked well. Now it’s time for some rest and a massage then preparation for another big day tomorrow,” added Norfolk.
Earlier in the day there were mixed fortunes in the second set of round-robin quad singles matches, with world No.2 Norfolk gaining his second successive victory after a dominant 6-3, 6-0 win over world No. 3 Gershony.
World No. 4 Lapthorne faced world No. 1 Wagner in his match and despite a one-sided first set Lapthorne fought back to establish a 5-2 second set lead. However, his efforts to level the match slowly disappeared and Wagner took it 6-0, 7-6(6).
Norfolk will now play defending champion Wagner in Friday’s third and final set of round-robin matches, while Lapthorne bids to gain his first victory in this week’s quad singles event when he takes on Gershony.
Share