With just a month to go until he competes on East Midlands soil in the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships and then the 2009 Invacare World Team Cup, Loughbrough Tennis Club’s David Phillipson secured his best doubles result of 2009 on Sunday, finishing runner-up in the men’s main draw doubles at the Czech Open in Prostejov.
The 20-year-old reigning national men’s doubles champion and his Dutch partner Ronald Vink opened their account with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Polish duo Kamil Fabisiak and Jerzy Kulik. The second seeds then edged past the fourths seeded pairing, Miroslav Brychta of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic’s Jozef Felix 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-5.
But having justified their seeding Phillipson and Vink were unable to challenge two of the most prolific title winners on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, top seeds Robin Ammerlaan of the Netherlands and Martin Legner of Austria, who won Sunday’s final 6-2, 6-0.
World ranked No 35 in singles and No 36 in doubles this week, Phillipson reached the second round of the men’s main draw singles at the ITF 2 Series event in Prostejov. He beat Finland’s Taneli Tenhunen 6-4, 6-4 in his opening match before coming up against his doubles partner and world No 10 Vink in the second round, but was unable to secure a first career win over the Dutchman as Vink went on to secure victory 6-2, 6-1.
(Courtesy of Richard Rush, Loughborough Echo)