World No. 6 Joachim Gerard of Belgium won the men’s singles final on Sunday as the 24th British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships came to an end at Nottingham Tennis Centre with the fifth seed defeating world No. 2 Stephane Houdet of France 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
On another action packed day of tennis, Dutch duo Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot also retained the women’s doubles title, while North American top seeds Sarah Hunter and David Wagner won the quad doubles and British pair Marc McCarroll and Jordanne Whiley claimed the mixed doubles.
Gerard raced into a 5-0 lead in the opening set, but Houdet dominated much of the second as he led 5-1 en route to forcing the decider. Nevertheless, Gerard regrouped to take a 3-0 lead in the final set and maintained his advantage to secure the first Super Series singles title of his career.
“It’s amazing. I’ve played amazing all week,” said Gerard. “I played a great first set. I only played two bad games. After the second set I focused more and managed to come back. It’s an amazing feeling. I hope I can continue to take this into my future tournaments.”
Griffioen and van Koot claimed their third successive British Open women’s doubles titles, the top seeds defeated second seeds Marjolein Buis of the Netherlands and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane 6-2, 7-5.
“We were very pleased with the first set, but we let the wind affect us in the second set and they played a lot stronger, too,” said Griffioen.
“We work well together, because we can criticise each other and compliment each other, depending on how things are going, and we know each other so well, so we’re absolutely delighted to keep the title,” said van Koot.
Hunter of Canada and Wagner of the USA won the quad doubles for their third Super Series title together this season after beating Britain’s Antony Cotterill and American Greg Hasterok, the second seeds, 6-1, 6-1.
“It was different today, because the extreme heat we had earlier in the week had gone and it was quite cold. But we had a plan and stuck to it and it paid off,” said Hunter.
“We just aimed to play well and we knew that if we played well we could take the title, so it’s very nice to have got another of these British Open titles,” said Wagner.
The all-British mixed doubles final went to Marc McCarroll and Jordanne Whiley, who beat local Nottinghamshire player David Phillipson and Louise Hunt 6-2, 6-1 after building on a comfortable 5-1 first set lead and dropping just the opening game in the second set.
“It’s been a great experience to get together and play some mixed doubles and very enjoyable,” said McCarroll. “It’s been played at some other Super Series events that we’ve not been at together, so it’s fantastic to get the chance.”
“We’ve had a great time. It’s been a lot of fun and after getting knocked out in the singles earlier in the week it’s lovely to finish our home Super Series on a high,” said Whiley.
Organised by the Tennis Foundation, the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships is one of six events to have Super Series status, the highest tier of tournament on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour outside of the Grand Slams.
The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour returns to Nottingham Tennis Centre in October, when the Tennis Foundation again organises the Nottingham Indoor, which this year has been upgraded to ITF 1 Series status, just one level below the British Open.