Last updated: 07/01/2011

British trio into Queensland semis


Britain's Marc McCarroll, David Phillipson and Lucy Shuker have all made winning starts to the 2011 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour after reaching the semi-finals of their respective men's and women's singles events at the Queensland Wheelchair Tennis Open in Brisbane.  

After a rain-affected first two days at the ITF 2 Series event, only a few games were played and no matches completed during Thursday's scheduled first day of play, meaning that both McCarroll and Phillipson had to play two men's singles matches on Friday.  

Defending champion McCarroll, who is unseeded this year, eased past American Lee Hinson 6-2, 6-1 in his opening match before going on to beat local favourite David Johnson 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the quarter-finals. 

McCarroll's victory over the Australian was a repeat of their semi-final at last year's tournament and the British No 3 now faces a tough contest against Sweden's world No 3 Stefan Olsson in the last four this year.  

British No 1 and third seed Phillipson will play Australian second seed Ben Weekes in his semi-final after dropping a total of just four games in his opening two matches against opponents from the southern hemisphere. 

World No 13 Phillipson beat Australia's Jerry Markoja 6-0, 6-1 before moving on a few hours later to beat Glen Barnes of New Zealand 6-1, 6-2.  

In the women's singles, Shuker needed just one match win to reach the last four, the British No 1 and world No 8 comfortably defeating Australia's Luba Josevski 6-1, 6-1. Shuker will play Dutch second seed and world No 5 Aniek van Koot in the semi-finals, having beaten van Koot on two of the three occasions they met in 2010.  

After the delays caused by the wet weather in Queensland, no doubles matches have yet been played, meaning a busy schedule is lined up for Saturday's third day of play. 




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