Sheffield’s British No. 4 Alex Jewitt has got his 2012 season off to the same winning start with which he ended 2011 after clinching the men's second draw singles title at last week's Queensland Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships.
Jewitt, who is bidding to qualify for his second Paralympic Games, was top seed in Brisbane and after a first round bye he dropped just four games in his opening two matches, beating Italy’s Pietro Mazzei 6-0, 6-0 before defeating British No. 5 Kevin Simpson 6-3, 6-1.
Thereafter Jewitt's task got much tougher as he edged out Swiss sixth seed Daniel Pellegrina 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 to make the semi-finals and set up a contest against South African eighth seed Evans Maripa.
Jewitt had beaten Maripa in straight sets in successive weeks in December, as his 2011 season culminated in the men's singles title at the Johannesburg Open in South Africa . While in Brisbane Jewitt discovered that his performances in South Africa had earned him the AEGON Player of the Month Award for December and despite having a much tougher time against Maripa in Brisbane's high temperatures, Jewitt still held on to claim the title 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(5).
While Jewitt had also signed off from 2011 by winning his doubles draw in Johannesburg , a second successive doubles title narrowly eluded him. Jewitt and Simpson eased into the men's second draw doubles final in Brisbane for the loss of just one game, but the British top seeds had to be content with runners-up honours after a subsequent 6-1, 6-2 loss to Brazilian second seeds Mauricio Pomme and Carlos Santos.
Jewitt now contests this week's Adelaide Wheelchair Open before heading to the Melbourne Open, which begins on Sunday.