Reid and Hewett keep crowd on edge
Great Britain’s Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett retained their wheelchair doubles title by defeating the French pair of Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer for the second year in a row.
Reid and Hewett’s nerve-racking 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 victory gave them revenge for losses to Houdet and Peifer in the finals of both the Rio Paralympics and the French Open this year as the two dominant pairings in wheelchair ten- nis locked horns once again. The British duo had lost the first set but were helped by a rain delay at the start of the second that allowed them to regain their composure before getting the match back under their control.
“We do not like to do it the easy way,” joked Reid, 25, whose defence of his singles title had ended in the first round this week. Reid and Hewett, 19, the French Open singles champion, were boosted by a raucous crowd on Court No3, although the pair did set nerves jangling by dropping three Championship points before they were taken to the deciding tie-break.
“I have been playing wheelchair tennis for 12 years and never once did I think we would fill out a stadium like this,” said Reid. “Especially when the women’s final was on Centre Court at the same time.”
With Hewett blasting a series of winners and Reid showcasing all of his guile, the British pair clambered back into contention after they had lost the first set following a couple of sloppy errors. A crucial break at the end of the second set then took it to a decider, when they were able to repeat last year’s trick by sealing the title in a dramatic tie-break.