16/01/15
Jordanne Whiley and Yui Kamiji finished runners-up in the women’s doubles in Sydney for the second successive year as Gordon Reid saw his men’s singles title defence come to an end against world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda in the semi-finals.
Whiley and Kamiji, who beat Dutch duo Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot in a deciding set or a championship tie-break in the Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open finals last season, again took their opponents to decider in Sydney, but Griffioen and van Koot went on to seal a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory.
“Obviously I am disappointed that we lost the final today, neither Yui nor I played like we can, but we now know what we need to do to win the Australian Open. Congratulations to Jiske and Aniek, they certainly played the better tennis today,” said Whiley.
As British interest in the first of six Super Series events in 2015 came to an end, Reid bowed out of the men’s singles 6-2, 6-1 to Kunieda, unable to repeat his win over the Japanese top seed in the semi-finals of the 2014 tournament.
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15/01/15
Gordon Reid set up a rematch of his 2014 Sydney semi-final against world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda as he reached the last four of the men’s singles with comparative ease, while Jiordanne Whiley moved into the women’s doubles final partnering Yui Kamiji.
World No. 3 Reid continued his men’s singles title defence with a confident 6-3, 6-0 quarter-final win over world No. 8 Takashi Sanada to set up a rematch of last year’s semi-final against top seed Kunieda,, a contest in which Reid became the only player to beat Japan’s world No. 1 throughout the whole of 2014.
Meanwhile, there will be an air of familiarity to the women’s doubles final for Whiley and Kamiji after they powered to a resounding 6-0, 6-0 semi-final win over Australia’s Janet Manns and Brazil’s Natalia Mayara in their first match of 2015 together. Top seeds Whiley and Kamiji, the winners of all four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles in 2014, will play Dutch second seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot in the final after beating Griffioen and van Koot in the finals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open last season.
Earlier in the day Whiley bowed out of the women’s singles to her doubles partner at the semi-final stage of the event. Despite making a fine start, world No. 5 Whiley eventually slipped to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 loss against world No. 1 Kamiji.
There was an even closer end to Reid and Alfie Hewett’s men’s doubles campaign after the fourth seeds took Satoshi Saida and Sanada to a final set tie-break, with the Japanese duo eventually prevailing 7-6, 2-6, 7-6.
14/01/15
Gordon Reid moved into the men’s singles quarter-finals and Jordanne Whlley advanced to the women’s semi-finals on the second day of play in Sydney., with Alfie Hewett and Reid also booking their place in the men’s doubles semi-finals.
Reid will play Japan’s world No.8 Takashi Sanada in the last eight of the men’s singles after opening his title defence with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over fellow Brit Alfie Hewett.
Whiley led Germany’s world No. 4 Sabine Ellerbrock 4-2 in the first set of their quarter-final when Ellerbrock was forced to retire, handing Whiley a scheduled women’s singles semi-final against her doubles partner, Japan’s world No. 1 Yui Kamiji. It will be first meeting between the two since Whiley twice beat Kamiji at the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters in November.
With Hewett and Reid looking to follow up their title win at the Queensland Open, they made it two wins from two matches in Sydney, following up their opening 6-0, 6-1 win over Malaysian duo Abu Samah Borhan and Ariffin Ariffahmi Zaquan with a 6-4, 7-6(10) victory over Australia’s Adam Kellerman and Evans Maripa of South Africa. Hewett and Reid play Japan’s Satoshi Saida and Sanada for a place in the final.
However, Lucy Shuker saw her singles and doubles challenges come to an end. Shuker lost out 6-1, 6-1 t Dutch world No. 3 and defending champion Jiske Griffioen in their women’s singles quarter-final. Shuker had partnered Griffioen to win the women’s doubles in Sydney in 2014, but this time Griffioen was on the other side of the net as she partnered fellow Dutchwoman Aniek van Koot to beat Shuker and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane 6-4, 6-4 in the last eight.
Whiley renews her 2014 Grand Slam-winning partnership with Yui Kamiji in the women’s doubles in Sydney and after a bye into the last four the top seeds play Australian Janel Manns and Brazil’s Natalia Mayara in their semi-final.
Meanwhile, Jamie Burdekin had to withdraw from his quad singles semi-final against Australian top seed Dylan Alcott due to injury.
13/01/15
Alfie Hewett produced the outstanding result among the Brits in action on the first day in Sydney after he beat Japan's world No. 9 Takuya Miki to set up an all–British men's singles second round contest against Gordon Reid.
Hewett beat 2014 Sydney runner-up Miki 6-3, 6-4 for his second career win over a world top 10 ranked senior opponent and will now become the first opponent of the week for third seed and defending champion Reid after the world No. 3's first round bye.
Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker also moved into the women's singles quarter-finals after Whiley's first match of 2015 ended with the British No. 1 and world No. 5 defeating American Elizabeth Williams 6-0, 6-1. Whiley will face German's world No. 4 Sabine Ellerbrock in the last eight, with Shuker set to play Dutch world No. 3 Jiske Griffioen after overcoming Charlotte Famin of France 6-4, 6-1.
For the second successive tournament Jamie Burdekin and Antony Cotterill were also drawn to meet each other in their opening quad singles match, with Burdekin earning a 6-0, 7-5 win to advance to a semi-final against Australian top seed and world No. 2 Dylan Alcott.
12/01/15
After Brits won all three doubles titles at the Queensland Open, the first wheelchair tournament of 2015 in Australia, Gordon Reid and Lucy Shuker return to Sydney in a bid to retain the titles they won in 2014 at the first Super Series tournament of the year.
Reid aims to defend both the men’s singles and doubles titles after winning his first career Super Series singles title in Sydney last year, while Shuker looks to add to her women’s doubles title in 2014. Both players were doubles champions in Queensland, where Alfie Hewett partnered Reid to victory. Hewett faces a tough first round singles draw in Sydney against world No. 9 Takuya Miki, but victory would earn him a second round meeting Reid. Otheriwise, after his first round bye, third seed Reid could meet Miki in a rematch of the 2014 Sydney final.
Meanwhile, after winning all four Grand Slam doubles titles in 2014, Jordanne Whiley makes her seasonal reappearance to join Shuker in the women’s singles and doubles. Whiley plays American Elizabeth Williams in her first match of 2015, whle Queensland Open runner-up Shuker will play Charlotte Famin of France in the opposite half of the women's singles draw.
Jamie Burdekin and Antony Cotterill lead the British challenge in the quad singles and doubles after Burdekin opened his 2015 season by finishing runner up in the quad singles in Brisbane, where Cotterill was on the winning side of the net in a quad doubles decider featuring both Brits.