ABN AMRO World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, ITF 1 (Disability, Brit Watch)

11th - 15th February
Rotterdam Netherlands Hard courts

Gordon Reid and Maikel Scheffers

14/02/14

Gordon Reid and Maikel Scheffers won the doubles title at the 6th ABN AMRO World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament as Reid bowed out in the singles semifinals for the second successive year after a fascinating contest against world No. 2 Stephane Houdet of France.

Second seeds Reid and Scheffers took a commanding 5-1 lead in the first set of the doubles final against top seeds Houdet and Ronald Vink and although Houdet and Vink retrieved one of the breaks, Reid served out the set to love.

The second set began much the same as the first, with Reid and Scheffers largely dominating the exchanges as they built a 5-0 lead before sealing a 6-3, 6-1 victory as the Sydney International Open and Melbourne Open champions clinched their third doubles title of the season. They were also runners-up at the Australian Open.

Reid remains unbeaten in the doubles in Rotterdam after winning the 2013 title with Houdet.

In the singles semifinals world No. 3 Reid revived his hopes of repeating his win over Houdet in the 2013 quarterfinals in Rotterdam after building on a 3-1 lead to take the second set and the two players exchanged games throughout the third set before the match was decided in a final set tiebreak.

Reid came from 5-2 down in the tiebreak to win four points in a row and earn the first match point. However, Houdet completed a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6) win as he won the final three points to earn his place in the singles final in Rotterdam for the fifth time in six years.

13/02/14 

Gordon Reid reached his second successive singles semi-final in Rotterdam after easing through his opening match against Dutch world No. 12 Tom Egberink.

After a bye into the last eight, world No. 3 Reid beat Egberink 6-1, 6-1. He will now face world No. 2 Stephane Houdet of France on Friday afternoon a year on from the Brit’s first ever career win over Houdet in the quarter-finals of the 2013 tournament. 

Reid also partnered Houdet to win the men’s doubles in Rotterdam in 2013, but this year they will be on opposite sides of the net in Friday evening’s final.

After reaching two doubles titles with Maikel Scheffers in Australia in January before they finished runners-up together at the Australian Open, Reid is again partnering Scheffers in Rotterdam this year. The second seeds earned a 6-3, 6-4 win over Frederic Cattaneo of France and Egberink in their semi-final and  will now play top seeds Houdet and Ronald Vink for the title.

12/02/14 

Marc McCarroll and Alfie Hewett saw their challenges come to an end on the second day of play in Rotterdam despite some fine efforts against tough opponents.

British No. 2 McCarroll came from a set and 3-0 down in his opening singles match against former world No. 3 and two-time Rotterdam champion Ronald Vink to lead the Dutchman 5-4 in the second set. However, despite McCarroll getting to within two points of forcing a tie-break, Vink eventually prevailed 6-1, 7-5.

Hewett put in a promising first set effort against world No. 10 Frederic Cattaneo of France, but Cattaneo eventually claimed a 6-4, 6-2 win as 16-year-old Hewett made his singles debut in Rotterdam.

11/02/14

Alfie Hewett and Marc McCarroll open their singles challenges on Wednesday afternoon in Rotterdam after bowing out of the men’s doubles on Tuesday evening. 

British No. 4 Hewett will face French world No. 10 Frederic Cattaneo for the first time in his career as the 16-year-old world No. 1 ranked junior bids to reach the quarter-finals. British No. 3 McCarroll will take on Dutchman Ronald Vink, the champion in Rotterdam in 2011 and 2012, in his opening match as he and Hewett attempt to join Gordon Reid in the last eight. After a first round bye British No. 1 and world No. 3 Reid will play either Dutchman Tom Egberink or Austria’s Martin Legner in the quarter-finals. 

Hewett and McCarroll slipped to a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Cattaneo and Egberink in their opening doubles match, with Cattaneo and Egberink now set to face second seeds Reid and Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands for a place in the doubles final later in the week.

10/02/14

Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett will bid to continue their fine starts to 2014, while Marc McCarroll makes his seasonal debut in Rotterdam as three of Britain’s top four ranked men’s players contest the first ITF 1 Series tournament of the year.

Reid secured his first career win over French world No. 2 Stephane Houdet when making his debut in Rotterdam in 2013, before bowing out in three sets in the semi-finals against Dutchman Maikel Scheffers. Reid also won the men’s doubles with Houdet last year before partnering the Frenchman again in November to win the Doubles Masters in California.

The world No. 3 returns to the Netherlands after winning the first Super Series singles title of his career at the Sydney International, his first tournament of the year, where he also secured his third career win over world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda. Reid also won two out of three doubles events in Australia, finishing runner-up in the men’s doubles at the Australian Open.

With the draw for this year’s tournament increased from eight to 12 players, British No. 2 McCarroll gets his chance to be part of a field that features eight of the world’s top 10 players. Meanwhile, Hewett has been awarded the one available wild card slot as the 16-year-old world No. 1 ranked junior contests his first senior tournament of 2014 after winning his third successive Junior Masters singles and doubles titles at the end of January.