27/01/13
Alfie Hewett completed a successful double defence of his boys' singles and doubles title at the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters on Sunday after defeating Carlos Anker of the Netherlands 6-0, 6-2 in the singles final in Tarbes, France.
After beating Anker 6-0, 6-0 when they met in the third of their three round-robin matches in the group phase of the competition on Friday, Hewett made another confident start to the final, holding his own service game to love in the opening game before building a commanding 4-0 lead.
Anker had his first game points of the match in the fifth, but doubles faults cost him dearly and Hewett went on to wrap up the opening set in just 19 minutes.
The second set started with some closer exchanges and Anker got his first game of the match on the board to trail 2-1 but Hewett was soon back in command. After creating two match points Hewett put in two double faults as both disappeared, but the Brit made no mistake on his third match point and closed out victory after 46 minutes.
"It's been another good week here in Tarbes and I did what I had to do today, so I'm very happy to retain my titles," said Hewett. "At 5-1 up I had the match points and at that stage the crowd and the atmosphere was great and I think I just got carried away with it all, but I got myself back on track. Obviously I came here as world No. 1 junior and there are people who watched me here last here, so there's definitely been some pressure to do it again and so I'm pleased that I have."
"After coming back here with Alfie as the defending champion and the world's top ranked junior there has definitely been a lot more pressure on him this week, and he's coped with it admirably," said Ash Smith, the Tennis Foundation's Performance Development Coach. "Last year he was the underdog and there was no pressure on him, but this year he's come to Tarbes with a level of expectation, so to have retained both the singles and doubles titles in the way he has is very impressive."
26/01/13
Alfie Hewett maintained his unbeaten record at the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters on the third day of play in Tarbes after booking his place in the boys' singles final for the second successive year and retaining the boys' doubles title.
Hewett came through a tough singles semi-final against his American doubles partner Chris Herman, fending off a determined effort from Herman 6-3, 6-4. The world No. 1 ranked junior and defending Junior Masters champion will now play Dutchman Carlos Anker for the second time this week in Sunday's final.
Hewett beat Anker 6-0, 6-0 in the round-robin phase of the competition earlier in the week as both players emerged from their group to reach the semi-finals.
In the boys' doubles final Hewett partnered Herman to beat Anker and Austria's Nico Langmann. After a slow start Hewett and Herman went on to clinch the doubles title 6-2, 7-5.
25/01/13
Alfie Hewett maintained his winning ways on the second day in Tarbes to reach the boys' singles semi-finals as the winner of his round-robin group before securing his place in the boys' doubles final.
Hewett needed only 46 minutes to beat Carlos Anker of the Netherlands in his third and last round-robin match, thereby topping their ahead of Anker. Hewett will face his American doubles partner Chris Herman in Saturday's semi-finals after Herman was runner-up in the other round-robin group.
Hewett and Herman established a 5-1 lead in the first set of their boys' doubles semi-final against Martin de la Puente of Spain and Gift Lekhanyane of South Africa and had set points in the seventh game before de la Puente and Lekhanyane made it 5-2. However, that was to be the last game Hewett and Herman were to drop and they went on to complete a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 victory.
Hewett and Herman will play Anker and Nico Langmann of Austria in Saturday's boys' doubles final.
25/01/13
Alfie Hewett has moved one step closer to defending his title as the world junior No.1 needed just 46 minutes this morning to beat Carlos Anker of the Netherlands 6-0, 6-0. The win means Hewett finishes undefeated at the top of Group 1 in the boys' singles ahead of Anker, who also qualifies for Saturday's semi-finals along with Hewett.
24/01/13
Alfie Hewett made a great start to his Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters boys' singles title defence on Thursday in Tarbes, France, winning both his first two round-robin matches to secure his place in Saturday's semi-finals.
Hewett beat Thato Tsomole of South Africa 6-0, 6-1 in his opening match and then went on to defeat Spain's Martin de la Puente 6-0, 6-0. Hewett never faced a single break point against him and completed victory over de la Puente having won 95% of the points played on his first serve in a dominant performance.
Hewett will play Dutchman Carlos Anker in his final round-robin match on Friday to decide which of them finishes top of their group.
Hewett also partners American Chris Herman in the boys' doubles semi-finals on Friday's second day of play in Tarbes.
23/01/13
Alfie Hewett has been drawn alongside Carlos Anker of the Netherlands, Thato Tsomole of South Africa and Martin de la Puente of Spain in his round-robin group of four players ahead of starting the defence of his Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters titles on Thursday in Tarbes, France.
With the eight players in the boys' singles divided into two groups of four, each player will contest two of their three round-robin group matches on Thursday, with Hewett playing Tsomole and de la Puente before facing Anker on Friday's last day of group matches.
The boys' singles semi-finals will then take place on Saturday. Hewett will also partner American Chris Herman for the boys' doubles, which starts later this week.
22/01/13
Britain's Alfie Hewett is among 12 players named by the International Tennis Federation as having qualified for the 2013 Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters, the premier international event for junior wheelchair tennis players, which will take place from 24 – 27 January in Tarbes, France.
Hewett, who has only just turned 15, will go into the prestigious event as the defending champion in the boys' singles and doubles after the Junior Masters kick-started what has been a tremendously successful 2012 for the Norfolk teenager.
At the start of this season he became just the second Brit to win the boys' singles at the Junior Masters, following Gordon Reid's triumphs in 2008 and 2009. He is among eight players named for the boys' singles at the event.
Hewett has gone on to win four senior men's singles titles this season at ITF Futures Series level and has improved his senior world ranking to No. 56, as well as cementing his world No. 3 junior ranking. With the two players currently ranked above him ceasing to qualify as juniors as of the 1st January, Hewett became the world No. 1 ranked junior player earlier this month.
"The Junior Masters at the beginning of 2012 gave Alfie the perfect start to what has been an exceptional year for him as he defeated a player almost four years older and ranked 85 places higher than him in the senior world rankings to claim that title," said Geraint Richards, the Tennis Foundation's Head of Disability Player Performance.
"Since then, Alfie has continued to show his excellent potential winning a number of titles and to have him qualify for the 2013 Junior Masters highlights the quality of the players we have coming through the Tennis Foundation's junior performance programme."
The tournament traditionally takes place alongside the last four days of Les Petits As, one of the leading tournaments for non-disabled players aged 12-14 years old.