25/01/15
Gordon Reid, Alfie Hewett and Lucy Shuker claimed the men’s and women’s doubles titles between them on the final day of the Melbourne Open, as Andy Lapthorne completed his warm-up tournament for the Australian Open with the quad singles title after a walkover.
Reid and Hewett clinched their second ITF 2 men’s doubles title in three weeks as they followed up their semi-final win over top seeds Joachim Gerard and Maikel Scheffers with a 6-2, 0-6, (10-3) victory over Brazil’s Daniel Rodrigues and Australia’s Ben Weekes. Reid will partner Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez in the men’s doubles at the Australian Open.
After beating top seeds Jordanne Whiley and Yui Kamiji in the semi-finals of the women’s doubles, Shuker and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane beat Dutch-German duo Marjolein Buis and Sabine Ellerbrock 6-4, 7-6(6) to also clinch their second ITF 2 doubles titles in three weeks, having been victorious alongside Hewett and Reid at the Queensland Open.
Lapthorne was awarded a walkover ahead of his scheduled quad singles final against Australia’s Dylan Alcott.
Melbourne Open Final Draws
24/01/15
Andy Lapthone booked his place in the quad singles final on the penultimate day of the Melbourne Open, while Gordon Reid, Alfie Hewett and Lucy Shuker all earned places in doubles finals on Sunday.
Lapthorne eased pat India’s Harry Boniface Prabhu 6-0, 6-1 to ensure second place in the round-round phase of the quad singles and therefore his place in the final against Australia’s Dylan Alcott.
Hewett and Reid upset top seeds Joachim Gerard of Belgium and Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands 7-6(2), 6-2 in the men’s doubles semi-finals and will now face Brazil’s Daniel Rodrigues and Australia’s Ben Weekes in Sunday’s final as they bid for their second doubles title in three weeks in Australia.
Shuker and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane also beat the top seeds in their women’s doubles semi-final. With Brits on both sides of the net, Shuker and Montjane edged out Jordanne Whiley and Yui Kamiji 4-6, 6-0, (10-6) after a championship tie-break and go on to play Marjolein Buis of the Netherlands and Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany in the final.
23/01/15
Lucy Shuker secured her second win of 2015 over a fellow world top 10 ranked player when she beat Dutch world No. 6 Marjolein Buis to claim a place in the women’s singles semi-finals in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Shuker ensured that there will be a Brit in the women’s doubles final as she moved into a semi-final that will feature both herself and Jordanne Whiley, with Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid also reaching the men’s doubles semi-finals.
World No. 10 Shuker beat Buis 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 and will now play German second seed Sabine Ellerbrock on Saturday for a place in the final.
Shuker and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane eased into the women’s doubles semi-finals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Australia’s Sarah Calati and Janel Manns. They will now play Whiley and Japan’s Yui Kamiji, who have a bye into the last four.
Hewett and Reid were even more dominant in their men’s doubles quarter-final against Australia’s Keegan Oh-Chee, earning a 6-0, 6-1 win that sets up a semi-final against Belgian-Dutch top seeds Joachim Gerard and Maikel Scheffers. Earlier in the day Hewett had taken a set of tennis off Argentina’s world No. 4 Gustavo Fernandez for the first time before second seed Fernandez went on to win their men’s singles quarter-final 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Andy Lapthorne remains in the hunt for a place in the quad singles final despite slipping to a 6-7, 6-0, 6-3 loss to world No. 2 Dylan Alcott in his second round-robin match of the week. Lapthorne will play India’s Harry Boniface Prabhu in third round-robin match.
22/01/15
Andy Lapthorne made a winning start to 2015 in his opening quad singles round-robin match in Melbourne as Alfie Hewett and Lucy Shuker reached the men’s and women’s singles quarter-finals respectively on the first day of competition.
World No. 3 Lapthorne defeated South African world No. 4 Lucas Sithole ahead of playing world No. 2 and top seed Dylan Alcott on Friday.
Hewett won a long first round encounter against Australia’s former world No. 10 Ben Weekes to reach the last eight of the men’s singles. Hewett, who has been drawn against either current or former world top 10 ranked opposition in each of his three tournaments in Australia, edged past Weekes 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the first ever match between them and the wold No. 1 junior goes on to play Argentina’s world No. 4 Gustavo Fernandez for a place in the semi-finals.
Shuker beat Frenchwoman Charlotte Famin in the first round of a tournament for the second successive week, following up her 6-4, 6-1 win in Sydney with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in Melbourne that earns the British No. 2 and world No. 10 a last eight meeting with Dutch third seed Marjolein Buis.
With Jordanne Whiley just concentrating on the women’s doubles, the British No. 1 and Yui Kamiji have a bye into the semi-finals, where they could meet Shuker and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane. Gordon Reid also concentrates on the men’s doubles ahead of the Australian Open and he and Hewett will play qualifiers in their quarter-final.
21/01/15
Andy Lapthorne’s made his seasonal debut at the Melbourne Open in recent years and the reigning US Open champion also starts his 2015 season at the ITF 2 event as he builds up to his latest Australian Open bid. Gordon Reid and Jordanne Whiley also make their last competitive appearances before the Australian Open as they contest the men’s and women’s doubles, with Alfie Hewett and Lucy Shuker completing their three back-to-back tournaments in Australia.
Lapthorne was runner-up in the Melbourne Open quad singles in 2014 and he contests a four-way singles event this year alongside Australia’s Dylan Alcott and South Africa’s Lucas Sithole, two of the three players he will play at the Australian Open. As at the first Grand Slam of the year, the top two players after the round-robin will go forward to the final, with Lapthorne facing Sithole in his opening match.
Reid won the men’s doubles in 2014 partnering Dutchman Maikel Scheffers. The British No. 1 partners Hewett this year as the Queensland Open champions bid for their second doubles title together in three weeks. Meanwhile, Hewett will hope for another impressive singles performance after beating Japanese world No. 9 Takuya Miki in the first round of the Sydney International Open. The world No. 1 junior plays Australia’s Ben Weekes in his opening match in Melbourne.
Shuker was a finalist in the women’s singles in Melbourne in 2014 and she begins her campaign this year against Frenchwoman Charlotte Famin. Whiley and Japan’s Yui Kamiji finalise their preparations for their Australian Open title defence as they pair up for the women’s doubles and bid to go one better than their runners-up placing in Sydney.