Dronfield's Alex Jewitt beat fellow Briton Kevin Simpson in an all-British men's main draw consolation singles final on Saturday at the Alpi Del Mare NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour event in Cuneo, Italy,
Reigning National champion Jewitt, who trains with coach Matt Lowe at David Lloyd in Derby and at Graves Tennis Centre, Sheffiield, had a tough first round men's singles draw along with Simpson, with Jewitt putting up a fine effort before a narrow 7-6(1), 7-6(9) loss to Slovakian fourth seed David Chabrecek.
However, the Beijing 2008 Paralympian and London 2012 hopeful produced some confident displays to beat Switzerland's Konstantin Schmaeh 6-0, 6-0 and Dan Kleckner of Austria 6-1, 6-1 in the earlier rounds of the consolation draw. Saturday's consolation final saw Jewitt maintain his momentum as he overcame Scot Simpson 6-2, 7-5 and he now looks to be heading for a world ranking back inside the world's top 70 this week as he continues to move back up the rankings after an injury that kept him out for the first five months of 2010.
"On the whole it was a good week and a nice tournament," said Jewitt, who got married earlier this year. "It was a bit frustrating to lose my first round main draw match in two tie-breaks, but a few line calls and the odd point here and there can make all the difference. I played well in the first set of the consolation final against, Kevin, and it's good to get more match practice, that's what I need, but the second set was a bit scrappy."
Jewitt and Simpson made a solid start to the men's doubles in Italy, beating second seeds Guido Nespethal of Germany and Daniel Pellegrina of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3. However, their bid for a place in the final was thwarted by Italian duo Fabian Mazzei and Spano, who progressed 6-3, 6-4.
Jewitt already has won title under his belt this season after partnering occasional training partner Kevin Plowman to victory in the men's doubles at last month's North West Challenge in Preston, Britain's first world ranking tournament of the season. Jewitt also reached the men's singles semi-finals in Preston, surviving an early scare to come from a set and 5-2 down in his first round match against Plowman before eventually bowing out to eventual champion and top seed Dan Wallin of Sweden.
He now heads to Sunderland this week for the North East Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, Britain's second world ranking tournament of 2011, which begins on Friday.