Phillipson is just two places and exactly 100 points behind current British No. 2 Marc McCarroll in this week’s rankings as both players compete in Italy after Phillipson also met McCarroll in the men’s doubles final at last week’s ITF 2 Series Wroclaw Cup.
After a comfortable 6-0, 6-0 win over Korea’s Ji-Hwan Lee in his opening match in Poland, Nottinghamshire’s two-time Paralympian was able to build on the misfortune of others en route to the men’s singles final. Phillipson led Austria’s former world No. 3 Martin Legner 3-0 in the first set of their quarter-final when Legner’s frame on his tennis wheelchair snapped and he had to retire.
Seventh seed Phillipson’s scheduled semi-final opponent Tom Egberink then withdrew with injury, giving Phillipson a walkover in to the final against his Australian doubles partner Adam Kellerman. Fourth Kellerman went on to win the final 6-1, 7-5 to claim the first ITF 2 Series title of his career.
Phillipson and Kellerman started the doubles as third seeds and after a first round bye they led Poland’s Jerzy Kulik and Dan Kleckner of Austria 4-1 when they also had to retire. But Phillipson and Kellerman were made to work hard for their semi-final victory before going on to upset second seeds Egberink and Tadeusz Kruzelnicki of Poland 7-5, 6-4.
With Phillipson one of three Brits on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme in the doubles final, Alfie Hewett and McCarroll eventually took the title 6-3, 6-4 after another closely-fought match. Phillipson joins Hewett and McCarroll in Italy this week for the ITF 2 Series Trofeo della Mole, where Phillipson is again drawn for a possible singles quarter-final against Legner later in the week.
“Last week had to be one of the strangest tournaments I’ve ever played in terms of the number of withdrawals and while I’m happy I was able to benefit, I went into the final against Adam not having really been tested too much,” said Phillipson. “Adam had had some tough singles matches and played really well all week, and he was the better player on the day in the final, so well done to him. It was great to have three Brits in the final of the doubles and hopefully we can repeat that again in Italy.”