Lapthorne retains quad singles title at Nottingham Indoor

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Andy Lapthorne retained his quad singles title on Saturday's penultimate day of the Nottingham Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, while Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley regained the women's doubles title and Antony Cotterill and Adam Field also justified top seeding to win the quad doubles title. 

Maikel Scheffers and Gordon Reid will go head-to-head in the men's singles final for the third year in succession on Sunday, while the top two seeds will also meet in the women's singles final for the second year in a row after Jiske Griffioen and Sabine Ellerbrock won their semi-finals. 

World No. 3 and top seed Lapthorne got much the better of the exchanges in the opening set of the quad singles final as he raced into a 5-1 lead. With second seed Antony Cotterill contesting his first ITF 1 Series singles final, the world No. 8 managed to win just the fifth game of the second set as Lapthorne sealed a 6-2, 6-1 victory. 

"It's always nice to come back to Nottingham and I'm delighted to win this title for the second year in a row," said Lapthorne. "The ITF 1 ranking points are very useful going into 2014 and this is great preparation for the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters coming up the week after next." 

World No. 4 Reid dominated his all-British men's singles semi-final against eighth seed David Phillipson, comfortably denying the local Nottinghamshire player a second big win in successive days. Reid won the first five games and the last five games of the match for a 6-1, 6-1 victory. 

"I'm very pleased with today's performance. Dave had a very good win yesterday against the world No. 7 and is playing well, so I didn't want to let him take control and play his style of game," said Reid. "I thought I was clinical today and I'm looking forward to another final against Maikel." 

Scheffers dominated the closing stages of both sets in his semi-final against French fourth seed Nicolas Peifer for a 6-4, 7-5 victory. 

Top seed Ellerbrock came from 5-3 down in the second set of her women's singles semi-final to beat British No. 2 and world No. 8 Lucy Shuker 6-2, 7-5 as both semi-finals were contested by former Nottingham Indoor champions. 

Dutch defending champion Jiske Griffioen was much more dominant throughout her semi-final against British fourth seed Jordanne Whiley and the world No. 3 sealed a 6-0, 6-2 victory. 

London 2012 bronze medallists Shuker and Whiley, the 2011 Nottingham Indoor champions, won the opening set of the women's doubles final against defending champions Ellerbrock and Brit Louise Hunt. Ellerbrock and Hunt led the second set 3-2, when Hunt had to retire due to injury. 

The first-time partnership of Richard Green and Lapthorne looked to be on course for an upset in the all-British quad doubles final, but Cotterill and Field rallied late in the second set and dominated the final set to win their first ITF 1 Series doubles title 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. 

There was drama in the men's doubles semi-finals as French third seeds Michael Jeremiasz and Peifer comfortably beat the top seeds, Frederic Cattaneo of France and Ronald Vink of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-1. Second seeds Reid and Scheffers fought back to avoid an upset in the other men's doubles semi-final, eventually defeating the all-British fourth seeded partnership of Alfie Hewett and Marc McCarroll 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. 

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 begin at 9.30am on Sunday's final day of play, with the men's singles, women's singles and men's doubles finals taking place from 10.00am onwards. Please visit http://www.disabilitytennis.org.uk/ for more information.

 

 
 

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE | TENNIS

Notts LTA
The County Ground
Tennis Drive, The Park
Nottingham NG7 1AE
0115 9473702
office@nottslta.co.uk