Whiley bounces back to beat Rio’s Paralympic champion
12-TIME GRAND SLAM WINNER NOW FACES AMERICAN THIRD SEED IN SEMI
BRITAIN’S 12-time Grand Slam champion Jordanne Whiley staged a remarkable second set comeback to beat Rio Paralympic champion Jiske Grifioen and book her place in today’s women’s singles semi-finals at the Loughborough Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, writes Marshall Thomas.
Second seed and world No.4 Whiley reeled off six games in a row to defeat Griffioen 6-3 7-5 yesterday and now faces American third seed Dana Mathewson in today’s last four at Loughborough University Tennis Centre.
The British No.1 is playing her first tournament of 2021 and her first tournament in Loughborough, having fulfilled broadcast commentary duties when the university tennis centre hosted the sport’s year-end Singles Masters in 2017. On that occasion, Whiley was eight months pregnant but believes the birth of her first son in January 2018 has helped make her a better player.
“Considering I was 5-1 down it was a good fight today,” said Whiley.
“Tennis used to be all-consuming and I used to be really hard on myself if I had a bad performance or lost a match I should have won.
“I’m still hard on myself, but my son puts things into perspective and he’s made me a much more balanced and, I think, a nicer person.”
Whiley is one of four players on the LTA’s Wheelchair Class Programme who feature in today’s singles semi-finals, with Lucy Shuker also one win away from tomorrow’s finals after edging past Germany’s Katharina Kruger 6-3 7-6. Shuker plays top seed Aniek van Koot today after the Dutchman’s 6-0 6-0 quarter-final win over young Swiss player Nalani Buob Meanwhile, world No.3 Alfie Hewett held off a determined challenge from Dutch seventh seed Ruben Spaargaren to win his men’s singles quarter-final 6-3 6-7 6-1 to set up a meeting with Japanese third seed Takuya Miki.
“I kept a bit more composure in the third set,” said top seed Hewett as he reviewed his performance.
“In the second I was a set and 5-1 and 40-15 up and I was thinking the win was only a couple of points away at most.
“That’s a dangerous game to play, so I was pleased with how I turned it around.”
Reigning Paralympic champion and second seed Gordon Reid raced past Japan’s Daisuke Arai 6-0 6-2 to secure a semi-final berth against fifth seed Maikel Scheffers.
Today’s penultimate day of play sees Britain’s Antony Cotterill face American top seed Bryan Barten in the quad singles final.