Photo: Rev. William A. Stewart
14/01/14
Gordon Reid completed the perfect start to 2014 today when he became the first British player to win a men’s singles Super Series wheelchair tennis title at the Apia Sydney International Open in Australia.
Reid also ended the tournament with the men’s doubles title, while Lucy Shuker won the women’s doubles title as Brits collected three titles at Super Series level, the highest tier of wheelchair tennis tournament outside of the Grand Slams.
World No. 4 Reid beat Japan’s world No. 10 Takuya Miki 7-5, 6-3 in Tuesday’s final, having saved three set points in the opening set, and his victory came just 24 hours after defeating Miki’s compatriot and world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda for the third time in his career in the semi-finals.
“I’m delighted to start 2014 in such a positive way by winning my first Super Series singles title. I'm already feeling the benefit of my winter training and putting to use in matches areas that I have worked on over the off season,” said Reid, who had won a crucial second set tie-break against Kunieda on Monday en route to securing a 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory for his third win over the Japanese player since last April.
“I had some great support today and it was really nice of ParalympicsGB medallists David Weir and Shelley Woods to come out and support alongside fellow players and support staff.
“It’s great preparation for my first Australian Open and I can't wait to get out on court in Melbourne now. To beat the world No.1 again en route to winning the title is a big confidence boost.”
Reid also claimed the men’s doubles title in Sydney partnering Dutchman Maikel Scheffers. The second seeds defeated top seeds Stephane Houdet and Kunieda 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 as they clinched their fifth doubles title together and their first at Super Series level, while it was Reid’s second Super Series doubles crown.
There were two Brits in the women’s doubles final as Shuker and her Dutch partner Jiske Griffioen, the top seeds, took on Jordanne Whiley and Japan’s Yui Kamiji, the second seeds and reigning ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters champions. Shuker and Griffioen won 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 for a memorable victory in their first tournament together as doubles partners.
“I’m delighted for Gordon and Lucy picking up three titles at the first of this year’s six Super Series events. To have three Super Series finalists in Sydney is a tremendous start to the year for our Performance Programme and with such fantastic role models performing on the highest stage, I hope we can inspire more people to start playing wheelchair tennis,” said Geraint Richards, the Tennis Foundation’s Head of Disability Player Performance.
While world No. 7 Whiley and world No. 8 Shuker bowed out of the women’s singles in the quarter-finals against higher ranked opposition, Jamie Burdekin finished third in the quad singles after winning three of his four round-robin matches, including a 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) victory over South African world No. 2 and eventual Sydney International champion Lucas Sithole.
Reid, Shuker, Whiley, Burdekin, Andy Lapthorne and Antony Cotterill will now all contest the ITF 2 Series Melbourne Open, which starts on Thursday, before Reid, Shuker, Whiley and Lapthorne vie for honours at the Australian Open. The Australian Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships takes place at Melbourne Park from 22 - 25 January, during the second week of the Grand Slam.
View the final draws here (link opens in new window).
13/01/14
Gordon Reid beat world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda of Japan for the third time in his career on Monday to reach the third Super Series final of his career on the penultimate day of the Sydney International Open, while Reid and Lucy Shuker also won the men’s and women’s doubles titles with their respective Dutch partners.
For the second time in their last three matches Reid clinched a crucial second set tie-break against Kunieda to keep his challenge alive and went on to complete a 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory. Reid follows up his victories over Kunieda in the semi-finals of last April’s South African Open, where he reached his second Super Series final, and at October’s Open de la Baie de Somme in France.
The British No. 1 and world No. 4 will now face Japanese world No. 10 and eighth seed Takuya Miki in Tuesday’s final at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre after Miki upset world No. 2 Stephane Houdet of France in the other semi-final. Reid will be attempting to win his first career title at Super Series level, the highest tier of tournament on the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour outside of the Grand Slams.
Reid later partnered Maikel Scheffers to win the men’s doubles title after the second seeds beat top seeds Houdet and Kunieda 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, having saved two match points in the second set. It was Reid and Scheffers’s fifth doubles title together and their first Super Series title as well as being Reid’s second career Super Series doubles title.
Shuker also won her second career Super Series doubles title in what was her first tournament partnering Jiske Griffioen, as Jordanne Whiley finished runner-up. Shuker and Griffioen justified top seeding to win Monday’s women’s doubles final against second seeds and reigning ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters champions Whiley and Yui Kamiji of Japan 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
However, there was disappointment for Antony Cotterill in his third and penultimate round-robin quad singles match after he slipped to a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Australian Dylan Alcott.
Cotterill will now face world No. 2 Lucas Sithole in his final match on Tuesday, while fellow Brit Jamie Burdekin will take on Japan’s Takahiro Koga. Burdekin goes into the final round of matches with the same record as Sithole, with two wins from three contests, while Alcott has completed his four matches with three wins and one loss.
View the latest draws here (link opens in new window).
12/01/14
Gordon Reid moved into the men’s singles semi-finals and men’s doubles final on the third day of play in Sydney, while Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley both reached the women’s doubles final to guarantee that at least one Brit will start 2014 with a Super Series title. Meanwhile, Jamie Burdekin gained his second quad singles win in successive days with a tough three set victory over fellow Brit Antony Cotterill.
World No. 4 Reid fought back from 5-3 down in the second set of his men’s singles quarter-final en route to beating Argentina’s world No. 6 Gustavo Fernandez 6-1, 7-6(2). Fourth seed Reid will now play Japan’s world No. 1 and defending champion Shingo Kunieda for a place in the final and will hope to gain his third career win over the top seed after beating Kunieda twice in 2013.
Reid went on to partner Maikel Scheffers to Monday’s men’s doubles final as the second seeds improved on their semi-final finish in Sydney in 2013 after a 6-2, 6-2 win over Japanese fourth seeds Satoshi Saida and Takashi Sanada. Reid and his Dutch partner will now play top seeds Stephane Houdet of France and Kunieda.
Whiley and Japan’s Yui Kamiji produced a repeat of their win over Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane in November’s ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters final when they beat the same opponents 6-4, 6-3 to reach their second Super Series final together.
Second seeds Whiley and Kamiji will meet top seeds Shuker and Jiske Griffioen in Monday’s final after Shuker and her Dutch partner also beat Korea’s Ju-Yeon Park and Japan’s Miho Nijo 6-2, 6-3 in their semi-final.
Burdekin followed up his victory over world No. 2 Lucas Sithole on the second day of play with another three set win over world No. 7 Cotterill. Cotterill made a fine start to his second match of the year, but Burdekin fought back for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory. Burdekin now has two wins from his three round-robin matches to date, while Cotterill has one win and one loss ahead of Monday’s meeting with Australian Dylan Alcott, the only player to have beaten Burdekin so far.
View the latest draws here (link opens in new window).
11/01/14
Jamie Burdekin produced the outstanding result on the second day of play in Sydney when he defeated South Africa’s world No. 2 and US Open champion Lucas Sithole in a final set tie-break in the second of his four quad singles round-robin matches.
Meanwhile, Gordon Reid also reached the men’s singles quarter-finals and men’s doubles semi-finals.
In temperatures in excess of 30 degrees, former world No. 5 Burdekin put his opening round-robin loss to Australian Dylan Alcott firmly behind him as he battled to a 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) victory over Sithole, the player who had edged past Burdekin in the semi-finals of last July’s British Open.
Burdekin, playing his first tournament since the 2013 British Open, has remaining singles matches against fellow Brit Antony Cotterill and Japan’s Takahiro Koga of Japan, as well as pairing up with Cotterill to take on Alcott and Sithole in the quad doubles decider. With five players in the quad singles round-robin, Cotterill had a day off from competition following his win on the opening day of play and will now play Burdekin on Sunday’s third day.
Reid made a comfortable start to his 2014 campaign when defeating Australian Ben Weekes 6-3, 6-3 and the British No. 1 and fourth seed will now face Argentinian sixth seed Gustavo Fernandez as he bids to improve on his quarter-final berth in Sydney last year.
Reid also partnered Dutchman Maikel Scheffers to reach the last four of the men’s doubles. Second seeds Reid and Scheffers, semi-finalists in Sydney in 2013, beat Britain’s Tony Knappett and Thailand’s Banjob Suwan 6-1, 6-1 in their quarter-final.
However, Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley both saw their women’s singles challenges come to an end in the quarterfinals. British No. 2 and world No. 8 Shuker put up a fine effort against Japan’s world No. 3 Yui Kamiji, but the Japanese player and reigning NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters champion eventually prevailed 7-5, 6-4. Meanwhile, world No. 7 Whiley slipped to a 6-3, 6-2 loss against world No. 6 Kgothatso Montjane of South Africa.
View the latest draws here (link opens in new window).
10/01/14
Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker reached the women’s singles quarter-finals after comfortable wins on the opening day of the first Super Series event of 2014, while Antony Cotterill also won his first quad singles round robin match.
World No. 7 Whiley faces a tough last eight match against South African world No. 6 Kgothatso Montjane after beating Korean Ju-Yeon Park 6-2, 6-3 on Friday, thereby ending Park’s unbeaten sequence after she won her first two tournaments of the year in Brisbane and Auckland.
World No. 8 Shuker dominated her first match of 2014 against American Veronica Grove, earning a 6-1, 6-0 win that sets her up with another tough match in the last eight against Japanese world No. 3 and second seed Yui Kamiji.
Cotterill also made a fine start to the year, beating Japan’s Takahiro Koga 6-1, 6-1 in the first of his four round-robin matches. However, in his first international match since reaching the semi-finals of last July’s British Open Jamie Burdekin slipped to a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Australian Dylan Alcott.
After a bye in the first round of the men’s singles, British No. 1 and world No. 4 Gordon Reid will open his season on Saturday against Australia’s Ben Weekes. Reid is seeded fourth for the men’s singles and is seeded second for the men’s doubles, in which he will partner Dutchman Maikel Scheffers, with whom he was a doubles semifinalist in Sydney in 2013.
Shuker and her Dutch partner Jiske Griffioen are top seeds for the women’s doubles, with Whiley renewing her partnership with Kamiji. Whiley and Kamiji were runners-up at Wimbledon in 2013 before ending the season by winning the ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters, having also picked up their first Super Series title together at the BNP Paribas Open de France in June.
09/01/14
Gordon Reid, Lucy Shuker, Jordanne Whiley, Jamie Burdekin and Antony Cotterill become the first Brits on the Tennis Foundation Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme to compete on the 2014 ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour when they contest the first Super Series tournament of the year.
Reid reached his second Super Series men’s singles final in South Africa in April last year, having reached the quarter-finals in Sydney at the start of 2013. He only just missed out on reaching the semifinals in Sydney this time last year after being edged out in a final set tie-break by current world No. 2 Stephane Houdet, who Reid went on to beat later in the season.
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Shuker had an early exit in the women’s singles in Sydney in 2013, but reached the women’s doubles final partnering Dutchwoman Marjolein Buis, with whom she then finished runner-up in the women’s doubles at the 2013 Australian Open. The British No. 2 and world No. 8 will hope for a better early singles draw this time and starts 2014 with the confidence of a victory over Whiley in the final of the British Championships in December
On her last visit to Sydney in 2012, current world No. 7 Whiley was a women’s singles semi-finalist when she reached what was then the second Super Series semi-final of her career. She starts 2014 on the back of becoming the first Brit to reach the women’s semi-finals at the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters in November.
Burdekin makes his first international appearance since last July, when he was a Super Series semi-finalist in the quad singles at the British Open, while Cotterill will hope to build on his best season to date in 2013, when he reached career highs inside the top 10 of the quad singles and doubles rankings. While the men's and women's singles will be played as a knock-out event, Burdekin and Cotterill will contest a round-robin in the quad singles.