Some of Britain's leading men's players were in action in NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour events on three continents on Thursday, with Marc McCarroll ending his run of three back-to-back tournaments in Korea with runners-up honours at the Busan Open.
In Europe, Gordon Reid and Kevin Simpson reached the men's doubles semi-finals at the Open Memorial Santi Silvas in Olot, Spain, where Reid also made a winning start in the men's singles. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic Alex Jewitt secured a comfortable first round win in the Jana Hunsaker Memorial at Flushing Meadows, New York.
After reaching his second ITF 2 Series title of 2011 at the Busan Open, British No 3 McCarroll had his title hopes halted by home favourite Ha-Gel Lee, who won their men's singles final 6-1, 6-2 just five days after been stretched to three sets by McCarroll in the semi-finals of the Daegu Open.
McCarroll will return home having reached one quarter-final, one semi-final and one final in his singles events at his three Korean tournaments.
After rain completely washed out Wednesday's scheduled first day of the Open Memorial Santi Silvas, a tournament hosted by Spain's Davis Cup player Tommy Robredo, the Scottish duo of Reid and Simpson opened their men's doubles campaign with a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 victory over Phillippe Bonnet of France and Spain's Martin Varela.
Second seeds Reid and Simpson will now play Swedish third seeds, Niclas Rodhborn and Dan Wallin in Friday's semi-finals. In the men's singles second seed Reid defeated Varela 7-6(3), 6-3 and now faces a stiff challenge against Wallin in the quarter-finals. However, Simpson's singles challenge ended after a 1-6, 3-6 loss to Dutch third seed Tom Egberink.
While Reid and Simpson are back in action on Friday in Olot, British No 2 Jordanne Whiley also begins her women's singles and doubles campaigns after a first round bye in both events. In New York, Jewitt overcame extreme heat to progress to the men's singles quarter-finals at the Jana Hunsaker Memorial.
The Briton defeated Canada's Phillippe Bedard 6-0, 6-1 in his opening match, which was the last match on the first day of competition at the ITF 3 Series event to take place outdoors at Flushing Meadows. With temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit the remainder of the day's schedule was played indoors.
Seven players on the Tennis Foundation's Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme are in action across the world this week and Louise Hunt and Lucy Shuker are both in women's singles semi-final action at the Slovakia Open on Friday.
After her opening 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russia's Ludmila Bubnova in Bratislava, Hunt players French second seed Christine Schoenn. Meanwhile, British No 1 Shuker returns from injury to play her first match since January against Austria's Henriett Koosz.
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