David Phillipson has moved up to No. 21 in both the men’s singles and men’s doubles world rankings this week after completing back-to-back NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour events with a place in his third final in two weeks over the weekend in Italy.
Bingham’s British No. 3 recorded his second straight win over Austria’s former world No. 3 Martin Legner to reach the men’ singles semi-finals at the Trofeo della Mole in Turin. Two weeks ago the Nottinghamshire player benefitted from Legner having mechanical problems at the Wroclaw Cup, as the Austrian had to pull out of their quarter-final in Poland when trailing Phillipson 3-0. However, Phillipson had to dig deep in Italy, coming from a set down to secure a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win that set him up with a semi-final against Belgian world No. 4 Joachim Gerard.
Top seed Gerard denied Phillipson a place in his second singles final in as many weeks when winning their semi-final 6-2, 6-3, but there was better news in the men’s doubles as Phillipson partnered Poland’s Tadeusz Kruszelnicki to beat the all-British second seeds Alfie Hewett and Marc McCarroll 7-6(1), 1-6, (10-8) after a super tie-break in a tense semi-final. A week earlier in Poland Hewett and McCarroll had thwarted Phillipson ambitions of a doubles title at the Wroclaw Cup, but as the three Brits on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme went head-to-head again, Phillipson had the upper hand this time as he and Kruszelnicki, the third seeds advanced to the final.
Phillipson and Kruszelnicki made a solid start to the final, moving a set up on Frederic Cattaneo of France and Legner, but the top seeds forced another deciding super tie-break and finally prevailed 6-2, 6-2, (10-6). Nevertheless, Phillipson is buoyed his by recent performances heading into the latter part of the season, which will culminate in the ITF 1 Series Nottingham Indoor at the end of October.
“It’s been a very good couple of weeks and I’m very pleased with my results, especially coming back to beat Legner in Italy to back up my performance against him in Poland when I made good start before he retired. Earlier this year I was struggling to find my form on clay, but it’s come together well.,” said Phillipson, whose next tournament is scheduled to be on hard courts at the ITF 2 Series Open de L’Ile de Re in France in mid-September.