Hewett and Reid face all-British showdown
DUO WILL ALSO TRY TO WIN DOUBLES TITLE
ALFIE Hewett and Gordon Reid will contest a second all-British wheelchair tennis final in four years at Loughborough University Tennis Centre today, writes Marshall Thomas.
Both secured straight set wins yesterday at the first LTA international competition staged in Britain in almost 12 months.
Hewett and Reid met in the men’s final at the 2017 NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters on the university campus, a contest that Hewett won.
The world No.3 bids to follow that up today after powering through his semi-final yesterday at the ITF 2 Loughborough Indoor, where he beat Japanese third seed Takuya Miki 6-0 6-0.
It was a far cry from his quarter-final on Thursday, which saw top seed Hewett defeat Dutchman Ruben Spaargaren in three sets, having been a set and 5-1 ahead.
“It was one of those days when everything just clicked,” said Hewett.
“I was commanding the court and served one of the best matches of my whole life.
“I was seeing everything really clearly and kept my mentality in a good place.
“When you’re 6-4 4-0 up it’s quite easy to take your foot off the gas and drop games.”
It was Reid’s turn to beat Dutch opposition in his semifinal as the Rio Paralympic champion recovered from 4-2 down in his second set to beat fifth seed Maikel Scheffers 6-2 6-4.
“It was really good to see it out in two sets,” said world No.5 Reid.
“After going 2-0 up I tried to go for difficult shots too often, so went back to basics to turn it back in my favour.
“I’m expecting a difficult match against Alfie, of course.
In our recent final in Rotterdam
I caused him a lot of problems, so some small changes can hopefully turn that result round.”
Later in the day, 10-time Grand Slam champions Hewett and Reid reached their third successive doubles final after the top seeds beat Miki and his Belgian partner Jef Vandorpe 6-1 6-0.
The Australian Open victors play Scheffers and Spaargaren today in their quest for a third title of 2021. Hopes of a British women’s singles champion ended when second seed Jordanne Whiley lost to American third seed Dana Mathewson 2-6 6-4 7-5.
Meanwhile, British No.2 Lucy Shuker bowed out to Dutch top seed Aniek van Koot 6-2 6-1.
Elsewhere, Britain’s Antony Cotterill finished runner-up in the quad singles as American top seed Bryan Barten took the title 4-6 6-0 7-5.