Andy Lapthorne made a confident start to his quad singles title defence on Thursday at the Nottingham Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament as the quad singles semi-finalists and men’s singles quarter-finalists were decided at the ITF 1 Series event at Nottingham Tennis Centre.
Top seed Lapthorne will be one of three Brits in the quad singles semi-finals after defeating Italy’s Alfredo di Cosmo 6-2, 6-3. With all four seeds advancing to the last four, world No. 2 Lapthorne will play fellow Brit and fourth seed Adam Field for a place in the final following Field’s 6-2, 6-3 victory over Israel’s Haim Lev.
“It was a comfortable start for me and there’s plenty to build on for the rest of the week, but I’m happy with today’s performance and I look forward to defending my title so that I can go into next month’s NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters full of confidence,” said Lapthorne.
In the bottom half of the quad singles draw, Britain’s world No. 8 Antony Cotterill also opened his campaign in style. Following his first round bye, Cotterill defeated fellow Brit Jack Pegram 6-3, 6-0.
Third seed Antonio Raffaele interrupted the British domination after the Italian beat 16-year-old Ian Payne 6-1, 6-2, repeating his win over Payne in the final of the Austrian Open in August.
All eight seeds are also comfortably through to the men’s singles quarter-finals, which will feature a clash between Britain’s top two ranked players Gordon Reid and Marc McCarroll after second seed Reid and seventh seed McCarroll both won their second round matches 6-0, 6-0.
Second seed Reid, the 2011 Nottingham Indoor champion and 2012 runner-up, eased to victory over young Dutchman Carlos Anker, while McCarroll beat a British opponent for the second successive day when he powered past Scott Smith.
“I’m very pleased with how it’s all coming together,” said McCarroll. “I’ve got some new things I’ve been working on and I’m trying them out this week and it’s so far, so good. I’m really looking forward to the battle of the Brits now against Gordon.”
Nottinghamshire eighth seed David Phillipson made it three Brits through to the last eight after beating another fellow Brit, Paul Stewart, 6-1, 6-2, to set up a contest against French third seed Michael Jeremiasz on Friday.
“Everything’s going to plan so far, I’m playing well and feeling good,” said Phillipson. “It’s going to get a lot tougher from here on as I’ve now got the world’s No. 7, but I’m confident I can produce big performance and hopefully I can cause an upset.”
Jeremiasz was one of three French seeded players to secure 6-0, 6-0 wins in the second round, alongside fourth seed Nicolas Peifer and sixth seed Frederic Cattaneo, who will now meet in the last eight. A Dutch semi-finalist is also guaranteed after world No. 3 and defending champion Maikel Scheffers and fifth seed Ronald Vink dropped just two games apiece in their all-Dutch quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, the start of the doubles events saw Phillipson and fellow Brit Alex Jewitt advance to the men’s doubles quarter-finals without dropping a game, while defending champions and second seeds Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany and Britain’s Louise Hunt reached the women’s doubles semi-finals for the loss of just three games.
Organised by the Tennis Foundation, Nottingham Indoor is an ITF 1 Series event on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour and is held at Nottingham Tennis Centre. The tournament is supported by Nottingham City Council and entry is free to all spectators. Play will once again begin at 9.30am on Friday. Please visit www.disabilitytennis.org.uk for more information.