Cantley’s Alfie Hewett clinched his second ITF 2 Series title and his third wheelchair tennis singles title of 2015 today when he won the men’s title at the Trofeo della Mole in Italy.
Hewett, who started this week’s tournament as fifth seed, defeated Japan’s Takuya Miki 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a contest lasting more than three hours as the 17-year-old world No. 1 ranked junior sealed the 12th senior singles title of his career
“It was a hard battle today in temperatures in excess of 30 degrees, so I’m very pleased to get the win and back up my semi-final victory over Maikel,” said Hewett, a member of the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme, who defeated Dutch top seed and world No. 7 Maikel Scheffers in the last four on Friday.
Hewett’s first ITF 2 Series singles title came in Rome in May, after he beat Dutch world No. 9 Tom Egberink in the final of the Internazionale d’Italia. His latest win over Miki maintains his unbeaten record against the Japanese player, who became the Norfolk teenager’s first world top 10 scalp of 2015 when they met in Sydney, Australia, in January.
World ranked No. 18 before flying out to Italy, Hewett is now set to move back towards his career best men’s singles ranking of No. 16 that he first achieved in June this year. He achieved his first senior world top 10 ranking last month after going to No. 9 in the men’s doubles rankings following his first Super Series title alongside fellow Brit Gordon Reid at the British Open in Nottingham.