11/02/15
Shropshire’s Scott Smith claimed victory in the first Tennis Foundation Wheelchair Tennis Development Series tournament of 2015 after dethroning reigning champion John Lambert in the semi-finals of the main draw singles
Lambert did retain one title, winning the men’s doubles with Mehboob Hussain after partnering Smith to victory in 2014. Meanwhile, there was a title double for Darren Whitlock, who beat Carl Sanger to win the second draw singles and also paired up with Sanger to win the second draw doubles.
With 24 players from across the country vying for success in Loughborough, players from the East Midlands and the West Midlands clinched victory in the two first round matches in the main draw singles to be settled in match tie-breaks.
Idris Popat Popat beat Craig Nicholson 4-1, 1-4, (10-6), while Mehboob Hussain recovered from not winning a single game in the opening set of his match against fourth seed Nick Smelt to advance 0-4, 4-2 (10-4). When Hussain and Popat met in the last eight, Hussain had a much smoother passage to the semi-finals, earning a 4-0, 4-0 victory. He went on to take the opening set of his semi-final against James Shaw, but Nottinghamshire’s Shaw fought back and claimed his place in the final 3-5, 4-2, (10-3).
After dropping just three games en route to his semi-final, Smith also had to go to a match tie-break against Lambert, but eventually ended Lambert’s title defence 5-3 3-5 (12-10) in a thrilling encounter. Thereafter, sealing the title came relatively comfortably as Smith won the final against Shaw 4-0 4-0.
The closest match in the second draw singles was the quarter-final between Darren Mitchell and Kevin Ward, Mitchell coming from a set down to book his place in the last four 2-4, 4-2, (10-4). Carl Sanger won first set tie-breaks in each of his quarter-final and semi-final matches, defeating Andrea Weston, one of two female players in the second draw singles, 5-4(5) 4-2 to move into the final.
However, Whitlock managed to narrowly avoid being taken to a tie-break in both his semi-final and the final as he first beat Mitchell 4-2, 5-3 and then held off Sanger 5-3, 4-0 to win the second draw final.
With Shaw pairing up with Paul Singleton for the main draw doubles, the duo wrapped up a tense semi-final against Shropshire duo Nicholson and Smith 2-4, 4-2, (12-10). However, in the other half of the draw Hussain and Lambert proved much more dominant and they clinched the title for the loss of a total of just two game after winning the final against Shaw and Singleton 4-1, 4-0.
Whitlock and Sanger also eased to a comfortable victory in the second draw doubles, winning their opening match without dropping a game and then defeating Robert Houghton and Kam Singh 4-1, 4-1 in the final.
“We'd like to say a huge thank you to all competitors and to the spectators, volunteers, staff, ball kids, the Tennis Foundation, Cooking Made Simple, Tennis Leicestershire and Bromakin for their support and contributions throughout the weekend and for creating a great atmosphere in which some fantastic tennis took place,” said Tournament Director Martyn Whait.