Brits continue success at Wheelchair Tennis Tournament
28th February 2013For the second successive week British players have secured a clean sweep of NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour titles after the North East Wheelchair Tennis Tournament drew to a close today at Sunderland Tennis Centre.
British No. 1 Gordon Reid retained his men’s singles title before pairing up with his final opponent Alfie Hewett to win the men’s doubles title.
Top seed Reid eased into the men’s singles final, while fourth seed Hewett had a tougher time as he overcame British No. 3 Marc McCarroll in a close three-set battle having beaten McCarroll in straight sets to win last Friday’s final at the ITF 3 North West Challenge.
After tournaments in Australia and the Netherlands this year, Reid was victorious on his 2013 debut on home soil after beating Hewett 6-0, 6-1 to claim his fourth North East title since 2008 and the eighth ITF 2 Series title of his career.
Reid’s success came after Jordanne Whiley and Jamie Burdekin won their second titles in a week in Wednesday’s women’s and quad finals.
In the women’s singles, Whiley justified top seeding as she followed up her victory at the North West Challenge over second seed Christine Schoenn by beating the Frenchwoman 6-2, 7-5 to claim her second North East title and her second ITF 2 Series singles title.
World No. 6 Burdekin also added to his victory at last week’s North West Challenge when he secured his second successive victory over world No. 7 Lucas Sithole, defeating the South African 7-5, 6-0 to win his sixth ITF 2 Series title and the twelfth singles title of his career.
Hewett won his first career ITF 2 Series doubles title when he and Reid beat fellow Brits McCarroll and Kevin Simpson 6-0, 6-1 having finished runners-up in 2012 in their first and only other tournament together.
Meanwhile, there was also a first ITF 2 Series doubles title for Lauren Jones after she partnered London 2012 doubles bronze medallist Whiley to beat French second seeds Emilie Chene and Schoenn 6-1, 6-2.
In the quad doubles Antony Cotterill and Adam Field secured a successful defence of their North East title to win their second event together in successive weeks after they defeated South Africa’s Bongani Dhlamini and Sithole 6-2, 6-2.
“It’s very satisfying to see our Performance Programme players doing us proud at Britain’s first two of seven world ranking events on the NEC Tour this year,” said Geraint Richards, the Tennis Foundation’s Head of Disability Player Performance.
“To have such high quality events in this country is great, not just for fans to enjoy, but for developing players to get a taste of world class competitive action.”