28/04/13
Alfie Hewett made it three titles from four events for players on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme in Madrid after lifting his second ITF 3 Series men’s singles title on the last day of the Open International Fundacion Emilio Sanchez Vicario.
After winning the first ITF 3 title of his career at the North West Challenge in February, the 15-year-old world No. 1 ranked junior and second seed beat French top seed Lahcen Majdi 6-4, 6-1. It was Hewett’s first singles match against for the former world No. 11, who had also been on the other side of the net when Hewett partnered Dutchman Rody to win the men’s doubles title on Saturday’s penultimate day of play.
The tournament ends with Louise Hunt having also won the women’s doubles title, partnering Spain’s Lola Ochoa, while Hunt was narrowly denied the chance of completing what would have been a British clean sweep when she was narrowly touched out in a final set tie-break in Saturday’s women’s singles final.
27/04/13
Alfie Hewett made it five doubles titles from five tournaments this season after partnering Rody de Bie to victory on the penultimate day of play in Madrid.
The world No. 1 ranked junior added to his success by also reaching the men's singles final after a three set win over his Dutch doubles partner, while Louise Hut was narrowly denied the chance to add to the women's doubles title she has already won in Spain.
Second seeds Hewett and Rody de Bie (NED) upset top seeds Sebastien Husser/Lahcen Majdi (FRA) 7-5, 6-4 In the men's doubles final.
Hewett will now face top seed Majdi in Sunday's men's singles final. The British second seed bounced back from an indifferent second set to beat de Bie 6-1, 0-6, 6-3 in their semi-final.
After partnering Spain's Lola Ochoa to win the women's doubles, second seed Hunt put up her best career performance to date against Italy's Marianna Lauro in the women's singles final.
After taking Lauro to three sets in the first of their four head-to-heads in 2009 Hunt had been on the end of two straight sets losses. But second seed Hunt came closer than ever before to a first win over the Italian before Lauro eventually prevailed 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(1).
26/04/13
Louise Hunt won the women's doubles title and advanced to the women's singles final on the second day of play in Madrid, while Alfie Hewett reached the men's singles semi-finals and the men's doubles final.
Hunt and her Spanish doubles partner Lola Ochoa proved too strong for their French opponents in the women's doubles final, the top seeds beating second seeds Evelyn Claverie and Pauline Helouin 6-3, 6-2 to give Hunt her third successive doubles title in just three tournaments so far this season.
Hunt had earlier put in a tremendous effort to come through a difficult singles semi-final against fourth seed Ochoa. The British No. 3 and second seed eventually clinched a three hour contest 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5 and will now bid for a first career win over Italian top seed Marianna Lauro in Saturday's final.
Second seed Hewett secured his second career win over Frenchman Sebastien Husser to progress to the last four of the men's singles. Hewett recorded a 6-4, 6-3 victory that earns him a semi-final against his Dutch doubles partner Rody de Bie.
A busy day for Hewett and de Bie saw them also win two doubles matches to book their place in the final.
After their first round bye the second seeds eased through their quarter-final against Dutch duo Florian de Boer and Rube de Sain 6-0, 6-1. However, their semi-final proved to be much more of a challenge and Hewett and de Bie had to come from a set down before eventually edging out experienced Spanish fourth seeds Alvaro Illobre and Martin Varela 4-6, 6-1, (10-7) after a match tie-break.
25/04/13
Louise Hunt reached the women's semi-finals and Alfie Hewett progressed to the men's singles quarter-finals on the first day in Madrid.
After a first round bye, British No. 3 and second seed Hunt eased past Mexico's Lizbeth Soto 6-4, 6-2 to set up a tough semi-final against Spanish fourth seed Local Ochoa.
Hunt and Ochoa have teamed up and are top seeds for the women's doubles and opened their campaign with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Poland's Wojcieszak and Russia's Evgeniya Korotkina. Hunt and Ochoa will face French duo Evelyn Claverie and Pauline Helouin in the final later in the week.
Hewett is also second seed for the men's singles and began his bid for his second ITF 3 Series title of 2013 by beating Roberto Chamizo, a member of Spain's victorious junior World Team Cup team in 2011, 6-2, 6-3. Hewett faces Sebastien Husser of France, a player he beat en route to winning the ITF Futures Series Tournoi de Montfermeil in France last October, for a place in the semi-finals.
Hewett partners young Dutchman Rody de Bie in the men's doubles. The second seeds have a first round bye.
24/04/13
Alfie Hewett and Louise Hunt fly the flag for Britain in Madrid this week as Spain's former Davis Cup captain and 1988 Olympic Tennis men's doubles silver medallist Emilio Sanchez Vicario and his Foundation host a NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour event for the second year running.
After winning his maiden ITF 3 Series men's singles title in Preston in February, at Britain's first world ranking event of the year and subsequently going on to reach his first ITF 2 Series final, 15-year-old Hewett, the world No. 1 ranked junior, is set to be among the seeds for the men's singles in Madrid.
British women's No. 3 Hunt heads to Spain instead of playing the Israel Open, where she would have been defending women's singles champion. The London 2012 Paralympian is also se to be among the seeds for the women's singles.