Andy Lapthorne maintained his hopes of reaching Sunday’s quad singles final after a 6-4, 6-4 win over American world No. 4 Nick Taylor on Friday’s second day of the US Open Wheelchair Tennis Competition.
Lapthorne clinched the last two games of the first set before a 4-1 second set lead gave him the foundation to wrap up his victory, which leaves him with one win and one loss after his first two round-robin matches. The world No. 2 now needs to beat South Africa’s world No. 3 Lucas Sithole in straight sets on Saturday to earn a place in his second successive Grand Slam singles final.
Lapthorne will also partner Sithole on Saturday in the quad doubles final as they take on American top seeds Nick Taylor and David Wagner.
Gordon Reid made a fine start to his men’s singles semi-final as he attempted to reach his first Grand Slam singles final. The British No. 1 and world No. 6 took the opening set off world No., 2 Stephane Houdet of France after winning six games in a row. Houdet controlled the second set from the outset and although Reid briefly led the deciding set 2-1 the Frenchman went on to seal a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Reid and his Dutch partner Ronald Vink also saw their bid for a place in a second Grand Slam doubles final of 2013 come to an end in an extraordinary match against Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina and Joachim Gerard of Belgium. Reid and Vink fought back from a set and 4-1 down to lead the third and deciding set 4-1, but Fernandez and Gerard launched their own comeback and eventually advanced to the final 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-5.
With all three Brits in the men’s and women’s doubles involved in three set semi-finals, Australian Open runners-up Lucy Shuker and her Dutch partner Marjolein Buis eventually bowed out to second seeds Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany and Yui Kamiji of Japan 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Meanwhile, after beating Dutch top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot in St. Louis immediately before the US Open, Jordanne Whiley and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane threatened to beat the London 2012 silver medallists again. However, they were only able to win the opening game of the deciding set as Griffioen and van Koot prevailed 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-1.
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