02/08/14
Alfie Hewett and Ian Payne brought British interest in the Austrian Open to a successful conclusion after victories in the men’s doubles and quad consolation singles respectively.
After a hard won semi-final Hewett and his Dutch partner Maikel Scheffers earned a comfortable win in the men’s doubles final, the top seeds defeating French second seeds Sebastien Husser and Nicolas Peifer 6-2, 6-1.
Payne, who won his first quad singles title at the German Open last weekend, ended his second Austrian Open with three wins in one day against Austrian opponents to clinch the quad consolation singles. Payne swept past Harald Pramendorder 6-0, 6-0 and Werner Pramendorfer 6-0, 6-0 and clinched a crucial 6-4, 7-6 victory over Markus Wallner to win the event.
Austrian Open Draws
01/08/14
Alfie Hewett reached the men’s doubles final partnering Dutchman Maikel Scheffers on the third day of the Austrian Open.
Tops seeds Hewett and Scheffers came from match point down to defeat Poland’s Tadeusz Kruszelnicki and Germany’s Steffen Sommerfeld 3-6, 6-1, (11-9) in their men’s doubles semi-final, with Hewett saving the match point with a backhand winner ahead of he and Scheffers booking their place in the final against French second seeds Sebastien Husser and Nicolas Peifer.
However, Hewett was denied a place in the semi-finals of the men’s singles against his doubles partner after bowing out to Dutch former world No. 1 and Atlanta Paralympic champion Rickey Molier 6-4, 6-2 in the last eight.
Ian Payne is set for a busy day fourth day, as he is scheduled to play three Austrian players in his last three round-robin matches in the quad consolation singles, having started the event with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over fellow Brit Becky Coleman. However, Payne and Richard Green saw their quad doubles challenge fade when they were beaten 6-0, 6-2 by the vastly experienced Italian top seeds Giuseppe Polidori and Antonio Rafffaele.
31/07/14
Alfie Hewett began his bid for back-to-back titles with a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 victory over Austrian Thomas Flax on the second morning of play in Austria and will go on to face Dutch former world No.1 Ricky Molier in the men's singles quarter-finals.
Later in the day Hewett partnered Dutchman Maikel Scheffers to reach the men’s doubles semi-finals after the top seeds defeated Austrian duo Nico Langmann and Josef Riegler 6-0, 6-1. Hewett and Scheffers go on to play fourth seeds Tadeusz Kruszelnicki of Poland and Steffen Sommerfeld of Germany for a place in the final.
However, Richard Green saw his quad singles challenge come to an end after slipping to a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Israel’s former world No. 1 Shraga Weinberg.
30/07/14
There were mixed fortunes for Richard Green and Ian Payne on the opening day of play as Green earned a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Austria's Werner Pramendorder to book a place in the quad singles quarter-finals against Austria's former world No. 1 Shraga Weinberg. However, Payne was unable to repeat his victory over Germany's Marcus Laudan in the final of the German Open and Laudan won their first round contest in Austria 6-2, 6-4, with Payne now going on to contest a four-way round-robin for the quad consolation singles.
Green and Payne also paired up to reach the quad doubles semi-finals. After defeating Austrian duo Harald and Werner Pramendorder 6-1, 6-0 Green and Payne will play Italian top seeds Giuseppe Polidori and Antonio Raffaele for a place in the final.
29/07/14
Alfie Hewett and Ian Payne bid to follow up their men’s singles and doubles and quad singles victories at the German Open, while Richard Green completes a three-strong challenge in Austria from players on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme.
Payne returns to the tournament where he reached his first senior quad singles final in 2013 ahead of winning his first quad singles title at last week’s German Open. Payne also finished runner-up in the quad doubles at the German Open partnering Green, who started July by winning his first international quad singles title at the Rezidencija Open in Croatia.