05/10/14
Gordon Reid retained his men’s singles title on the last day of the Open de la Baie de Somme as Brits completed the ITF 1 event with two titles.
After Lucy Shuker’s women’s doubles victory with Dutch partner Marjolein Buis, Reid opened up a 3-0 lead over former world No.2 Stefan Olsson in the men’s final. Although the Swede got to within a game at 4-3, Reid snatched a close eighth game to establish another cushion and went on to take the opener before recovering from 4-2 down in the second set to seal a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Men's Singles Draw Women's Singles Draw Doubles Draws Junior Singles Draw
04/10/14
Lucy Shuker cinched her fifth women’s doubles title of the season as Gordon Reid kept his men’s singles title defence on track on the penultimate date of competition in Rue and also partnered Alfie Hewett to finish runners-up in the men’s doubles.
Shuker claimed her second title of 2014 partnering Dutchwoman Marjolein Buis as the duo won a thrilling women’s doubles final featuring Brits on either side of the net. Shuker and Buis beat Jordanne Whiley and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane 6-4, 3-6, (10-8) to end the event having beaten both of the seeded partnerships.
Second seed Reid bounced back from a break down to win the opening set of his men’s singles semi-final against Belgian world No. 5 Joachim Gerard on a tie-break and went on to close out a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory that set the world No. 3 up with a final against Sweden’s Stefan Olsson.
Alfie Hewett and Reid, winners over the London 2012 silver medallists and the Dutch second seeds in their men’s doubles quarter-final and semi-final matches, rallied in the second set of the final against top seeds Gerard and Stephane Houdet of France, but Gerard and Houdet went on to take the title 6-1, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Whiley bowed out of the women’s singles in the last four after slipping to a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Germany’s world No. 4 Sabine Ellerbrock and Ian Payne finished fourth with Rafael Patronidis of Greece in the junior doubles.
03/10/14
A British champion is guaranteed in Rue after Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley moved into the women’s doubles final with their respective partners on the third day of competition. Gordon Reid also won his all-British men’s singles quarter-final to reach Saturday’s semi-finals.
Shuker and Dutchwoman Marjolein Buis upset the second seeds in their semi-final and after storming to an early 5-2 lead they eventually took the first set against Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock and Jiske Griffioen of the Netherlands 7-5. The second set followed a similar pattern, but this time Shuker and Buis earned the crucial breakthrough to lead 5-3 before wrapping up a 7-5 6-4 victory.
After dropping the opening game of their semi-final against Dutch duo Diede de Groot Michaela Spaanstra, Whiley and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane reeled off the next six games to win the set en route to their 6-2, 6-1 victory.
The all-Brit men’s singles quarter-final between defending champion Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett saw Hewett clinch the first two games before Reid came back to take the set. World No. 3 Reid then built a 5-2 second set lead, eventually sealing a 6-3 6-3 victory that earns him a semi-final against Belgian world No. 5 Joachim Gerard.
“I thought it was high quality tennis from both of us. I know Alfie is very confident at the moment after some good results, so I'm pleased with the win,” said Reid.
Ian Payne lost out to Ruben Spaargaren of the Nertherlands 7-6(1), 6-2 in his opening juniors singles match and now plays for fifth place. Payne and Rafael Patronidis of Greece go into their fourth and final junior doubles round-robin match with one win and two losses to date.
02/10/14
Jordanne Whiley reached the women’s singles semi-finals, Lucy Shuker joined Whiley in the women’s doubles semi-finals and Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid booked their place in the men’s doubles final on the second day of play in Rue.
Fourth seed Whiley eased through her opening match against Cathy Portier of France 6-0, 6-0 to set up a semi-final against second seed Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany, Shuker saw her singles challenge come to an end against Dutch top seed Jiske Griffioen, who reached the last four 6-0, 6-1 in the opposite half of the draw to Whiley. However, there was better news for Shuker in the women’s doubles as she as she partnered Marjolein Buis of the Netherlands to a 6-0, 6-0 quarter-final win over Swiss junior Nalani Buob and Portier. Shuker and Buis play second seeds Ellerbrock and Griffioen for a place in the final.
A day after beating London 2012 silver medallists Frederic Cattaneo and Nicolas Peifer in their opening men’s doubles match, Hewett and Reid defeated Dutch second seeds and three-time Doubles Masters champions Maikel Scheffers and Ronald Vink to reach the final. Hewett and Reid combined impressively once again for a 6-0, 6-2 victory that sets up a decider against top seeds Joachim Gerard and Stephan Houdet, who ended the challenge of Marc McCarroll and Sweden’s Stefan Olsson 6-3, 6-1.
01/10/14
World No. 1 ranked junior Alfie Hewett secured his first career win over a senior world top 10 ranked player on the first day of play in Rue as he and Lucy Shuker both reached the singles quarter-finals, while Hewett, Gordon Reid and Marc McCarroll all reached the men’s doubles semi-finals.
Hewett beat world No.7 Nicolas Peifer of France 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round of the men’s singles to earn a quarter-final against world No. 3 and defending champion Reid, who had a first round bye.
“I’m very happy with how I played today and the last few weeks have been great. My tennis is really progressing at the moment and I'm really enjoying playing against the top players,” said Hewett, who arrived in Rue after reaching two successive quarter-finals against Belgium’s world No. 5 Joachim Gerard.
It was a mixed day for the Brits, with Marc McCarroll bowing out 7-5, 6-2 to Dutch former world No. 3 Ronald Vink.
However, there was better to come from Shuker, who defeated Frenchwoman Charlotte Famin 6-1, 6-3 to earn a women’s singles quarter-final against Dutch world No. 2 and defending champion Jiske Griffioen. After her first round bye Jordanne Whiley open her campaign on the second day of play against Pathy Mortier of France.
After his singles victory Hewett paired up with Reid to beat the all-French partnership of Frederic Cattaneo and Peifer, the London 2012 silver medallists, 6-3, 6-2. The all-Dutch second seeds, Maikel Scheffers and Vnik, will be Hewett and Reid’s semi-final opponents. Meanwhile, McCarroll and Sweden’s Stefan Olsson booked a semi-finals against top seeds Stephane Houdet of France and Gerard after winning their quarter-final against South Africa’s Evans Maripa and Australia’s Ben Weekes 6-2, 6-1.
30/09/14
Gordon Reid heads a six-strong British challenge as he returns to the tournament where he beat the world’s top three players in successive days to lift the men’s singles title in 2013.
Reid is joined by Marc McCarroll and Alfie Hewett in the men’s events this year, with world No. 1 ranked junior Hewett set to partner Reid in the men’s doubles.
World No. 2 Stephane Houdet of France and Dutchman Maikel Scheffers, the two players Reid beat in the final and quarter-finals in 2013, join the British No. 1 among the four seeds this year.
Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker are among eight of the world’s top 10 ranked players in the women’s singles, with world No. 6 Whiley starting the tournament as fourth seed.
Meanwhile, Ian Payne provides a British challenge in the junior singles and doubles.