Jordanne Whiley and Andy Lapthorne reached the women’s singles and quad singles finals after both beating world No.1 ranked players on a fantastic day for the home players at the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships.
Whiley reached her first Super Series singles final as she ended the 20-match winning streak of Dutch top seed Jiske Griffioen 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 amid blustery conditions at Nottingham Tennis Centre. The British No.1 and world No.6 will now play world No.3 Aniek van Koot in Saturday’s final after van Koot won the other semi-final against world No.2 Yui Kamiji 7-6(3), 6-2.
"I was in so much disbelief and so happy that I burst into tears and couldn’t breathe. I just couldn’t believe that I just took out the world No.1, who has a seven month winning streak. And I’ve made my first ever Super Series final – it’s just amazing,” said Whiley.
“Because I couldn’t hit the ball very hard today and couldn’t serve like I usually do, it turned into an advantage because she couldn’t handle the slow balls. Also, it made me think about, ‘okay I can’t hit it hard so I need to place the ball exactly where I want it to go. That is something that won me the match.”
“If I can take out the world No.1, then I can take out anyone. I’m definitely up for the challenge now,” added six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Whiley ahead of her first singles final at the highest tier of wheelchair tennis tournament outside of the four majors.
Lapthorne reached the fifth Super Series quad singles final of his career and his second successive final in Nottingham with a 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-4 victory as he avenged his loss to world No.1 Dylan Alcott in the 2014 British Open title decider on the indoor courts at Nottingham Tennis Centre.
Reigning US Open champion Lapthorne has now beaten Alcott twice this season and is the only player to have beaten the Australian in 2015 to date.
“I always play better in the big matches; it’s a different mind-set for me,” said world No.3 Lapthorne. “I love playing the big matches when there’s a lot on the line, I had no choice but to play better today and that’s what I did.
“It was a hard match, a tough three sets like it often is with Dylan. It’s nice to beat him, there’s a massive rivalry between us so I love beating him."
There was also an upset in the other semi-final as 2013 British Open champion Lucas Sithole beat American world No. 2 David Wagner 7-5, 6-1. Lapthorne will go into Saturday’s final with a winning 9-6 advantage over the South African world No.4 in their career head-to-heads.
The Brit success continued in the men’s doubles as Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, the third seeds, upset top seeds Joachim Gerard of Belgium and Stephane Houdet of France 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4) after a final set tie-break.
With 17-year-old world No.1 junior Hewett now into his first Super Series final in singles or doubles, he and Roland Garros doubles champion Reid will now play French second seeds Michael Jeremiasz and Nicolas Peifer for the title.
Share