Louise Hunt takes British hopes of title success in this week's NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour into Sunday's last day of the Bavarian Open after a superb comeback to win her women's singles semi-final in Wendelstein, Germany.
The British No 3 and world No 19 fought back to beat Germany's Bianca Osterer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) on Saturday, avenging a narrow 7-5, 5-7 5-7 loss to world No 23 Osterer in the final of last month's Croatian Open. Second seed Hunt will play top seed Marianna Lauro of Italy in Sunday's final, but her hopes of a fourth doubles title in the space of seven weeks came to an end when the Briton and her Australian partner Janel Manns lost out to Austrian duo Henriett Koosz and Waltraud Posch 4-6, 4-6 in the last four.
Hunt's singles success in Germany came as British interest in the Swiss Open in Geneva ended, but not before Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley gave second seeds Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands and Annick Sevenans of Belgium a stern test in their women's doubles final.
After upsetting Dutch top seeds Marjolein Buis and Sharon Walraven in two tie-breaks in their semi-final on Friday, the British second seeds came close to their first ITF 1 doubles title as a partnership, but van Koot and Sevenans held on to secure a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory.
Shuker's bid to reach the women's singles victory also ended in defeat as Germany's Sabine Ellerbrock came through their last four contest 6-3, 6-4, leaving Shuker with semi-final points from the Swiss Open for the third time since 2007.
Jamie Burdekin and John Parfitt were the second British partnership to contest a doubles final in Geneva on Saturday, but with Parfitt contesting his second successive Swiss Open quad doubles final they were unable to overturn defending champions Sarah Hunter of Canada and American David Wagner as the top seeds retained their title 6-2, 6-2.
Alex Jewitt's hopes of reaching the men's main draw consolation singles final also ended after the British No. 4 gave the improving Japanese player Takashi Sanada a tough battle, Sanada prevailing 7-6(2), 6-3 en route to winning the consolation title later in the day.
Hunt, Shuker, Whiley, Burdekin, Parfitt and Jewitt will join other leading British players on the Tennis Foundation's Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme at next week's British Open, which begins at Nottingham Tennis Centre on Tuesday.
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