07/04/13
Gordon Reid brought the Gauteng Open to a successful end for British players after partnering Frenchman Michael Jeremiasz to a straight sets win in the men's doubles final, ensuring a clean sweep of the doubles titles for the Brits at the ITF 1 Series tournament.
Top seeds Reid and Jeremiasz won four of the last five games in the opening set against second seeds Frederic Cattaneo of France and Gustaveo Fernandez of Argenitna and then came from 2-0 down in the second set to complete a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Reid and Jeremiasz's victory came after Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley won the women's doubles title and Andy Lapthorne partnered South Africa's Lucas Sithole to win the quad doubles title.
However, world No. 3 Lapthorne was unable to add the quad singles title early on the last day of competition after a narrow 6-3, 6-4 loss to American world No. 1 David Wagner.
06/04/13
Lucy Shuker, Jordanne Whiley and Andy Lapthorne all won doubles titles on the penultimate day of the Gauteng Open, while Lapthorne progressed to Sunday's quad singles final.
Top seeds and London 2012 women's doubles bronze medallists Shuker and Whiley beat second seeds Katharina Kruger of Germany and Kgothatso Montjane of South Africa to 6-1, 6-4 in the women's doubles final, despite Kruger and Montjane fighting back early in the second set.
Lapthorne and South Africa's Lucas Sithole also justified top seeding to win the quad doubles title after a tough contest against American second seeds Greg Hasterok and David Wagner. After an indifferent second set Lapthorne and Sithole held on to clinch a 7-5, 0-6, 6-4 victory, having secured the crucial break in the final set to move 5-3 ahead.
Lapthorne faced his doubles partner and third seed Sithole in the quad singles semi-finals, winning the last four games of the opening set before Sithole dominated the second. However, second seed Lapthorne regrouped and eventually won 7-5, 0-6, 6-4 to book his place in Sunday's final against world No. 1 Wagner.
British No. 1 Gordon Reid will bid for another title in Sunday's men's doubles final. Top seeds Reid and Michael Jeremiasz of France held a commanding lead against fourth seeds Eliphas Maripa of South Africa and Nicolas Peifer of France in Saturday's semi-finals before Maripa and Peifer fought back to force a second set tie-break. However, Reid and Jeremiasz controlled the tie-break from the outset and went on to seal a 6-1, 7-6(1) victory. Reid and Jeremiasz will play second seeds Frederic Cattaneo of France and Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina in Sunday's final.
However, Reid and Whiley saw their men's and women's singles challenges come to an end in semi-finals. Reid put up a good effort against world No. 1 and two-time Paralympic gold medallist Shingo Kunieda of Japan, but Kunieda progressed to the final 6-4, 6-2.
After beating fellow Brit and second seed Shuker in the quarter-finals, fifth seed Whiley was unable to cause another upset in her women's singles semi-final and, with home advantage, world No. 7 Kgothatso Montjane of South Africa went on to progress to the final 6-2, 6-3.
05/04/13
Gordon Reid, Jordanne Whiley and Andy Lapthorne all reached their respective singles semi-finals during Friday's third day of the Gauteng Open, with Whiley upsetting fellow Brit Lucy Shuker to reach the last four of the women singles.
Fifth seed Whiley secured only her third win over Shuker in international NEC Tour competition as she earned a 7-5, 6-0 victory to set up a match against home favourite and third seed Kgothatso Montjane for a place in Sunday's final.
Reid will face his second Japanese opponent in successive days on Saturday after beating seventh seed Takuya Miki 6-0, 6-2 in the men's singles quarter-finals. The British No. 1 and world No. 7 now bids for his first career win over world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile second seed Lapthorne battled past American Greg Hasterok (USA) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in his quad singles quarter-final. Like Whiley, Lapthorne will now also face South African opposition in the last four when he plays third seed Lucas Sithole.
Later in the day Shuker, Whiley and Lapthorne reached the finals of the women's doubles and quad doubles between them, while Reid partnered Frenchman Michael Jeremiasz to reach the semi-finals of the men's doubles.
Top seeds Shuker and Whiley paired up to beat South African Hlatswayo and Mabel Mankgele 6-1 6-1 in their women's doubles semi-final. Lapthorne and South Africa's Lucas Sithole, also top seeds for the quad doubles, beat India's Harry Boniface Prabhu and David Mathebula 6-0, 6-3 in their semi-final.
Reid and Jeremiasz, bidding to justify top seeding for the men's doubles, defeated Morocco's Ayoub Ettali and Arrie Opperman 6-0, 6-1 to reach the last four.
04/04/13
Gordon Reid, Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley all progressed to the quarter-finals on the second day of play at the Gauteng Open, with Shuker and Whiley guaranteeing that there will be a Brit in the women's singles semi-finals after setting up a head-to-head in the last eight.
Reid beat Leon Els of South Africa 6-0, 6-1 to book his place in the men's singles quarter-finals. The British No. 1 and third seed will now play seventh seed Takuya Miki of Japan.
Later in the day Reid partnered Frenchman Michael Jeremiasz to book their place in the men's doubles quarter-finals. The top seeds beat South African duo Siyabulela Mahlikithla and Nicolaas Jan Otto 6-0, 6-0 in their opening match.
In the women's singles second seed Shuker and fifth seed Whiley both beat South African opponents, world No. 5 Shuker defeating Mariska Venter 6-1, 6-3 and Whiley easing past Lethaba Sha 6-0, 6-0. Britain's top two ranked women's players will now meet on the NEC Tour for the first time since the quarter-finals of the 2011 Nottingham Indoor, a contest that Whiley won.
With Shuker and Whiley top seeds for the women's doubles and Andy Lapthorne and South Africa's Lucas Sithole top seeds for the quad doubles, both partnerships had rest days in the doubles on Thursday, while Lapthorne will resume his quad singles challenge with his quarter-final against American Greg Hasterok on Friday's third day of play.
03/04/13
Gordon Reid and Andy Lapthorne both eased through their opening men's singles and quad singles matches after rain delayed the start of the first day of play at the Gauteng Open.
Third seed Reid beat Malcolm Anderson 6-0, 6-1 to set up a second round contest against another South African player, Leon Els for a place in the quarter-finals.
Second seed Lapthorne defeated India's Harry Boniface Prabhu 6-0, 6-3 to book his place in the last eight of the quad singles against American Greg Hasterok.
Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley both had byes in the first round of the women's singles and would be on course to meet each other in the quarter-finals if they both win their second round matches against South African players. Second seed Shuker will face junior Mariska Venter, with fifth seed Whiley set to play Lethaba Shei.
02/04/13
Upgraded from ITF 2 Series to ITF 1 Series this year, the Gauteng Open is a precursor to next week's South African Open, with plenty of valuable world ranking points at stake and many of the world's top 20 ranked players feature in an impressive field.
Gordon Reid and Jordanne Whiley arrive in South Africa on the back of winning the ITF 2 Series North East Tournament in Sunderland in March, while Lucy Shuker and Andy Lapthorne play their first tournaments since January's Australian Open, where Lapthorne was a finalist in the quad singles and doubles and Shuker was a finalist in the women's doubles.
Shuker begins the tournament at a career best women's singles world ranking of No. 5, having moved up once place following the recent retirement of Dutch former world No. 1 Esther Vergeer.