2021 Loughborough Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament: Day 5

Day 5 recap

Gordon Reid claimed his first men’s singles title of 2021 after beating fellow Brit and top seed Alfie Hewett 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to lift the inaugural Loughborough Indoor crown. Hewett and Reid later joined forces to claim their third successive men’s doubles title of the season.

Meanwhile, Dutch top seed Aniek van Koot beat American third seed Dana Mathewson 6-3, 6-2 to win the women’s singles title and also added victory in the women’s doubles.

Reid bounced back from a set and 5-3 down against Hewett to earn his first singles title since September 2019. The world No.5 said: “I think last year was the first year in my career when I didn’t win a singles title. Obviously, we didn’t play many events, so I’m really pleased to take the title home today. I’ve played some really good tennis this week and I thought the final was a really high level today. I had to play some of my tennis to beat Alfie.”

Ten-time Grand Slam champions Hewett and Reid raced past Dutch second seeds Maikel Scheffers and Ruben Spaargaren 6-0, 6-1 in the men’s doubles final.

Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley finished runners-up to Rio Paralympic champions Jiske Griffioen and Van Koot in the women’s doubles final after the Dutch edged to a 4-6, 6-4, 10-3 win.

Day 4 recap

Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid contest their second all-British men’s singles final in successive tournaments on Saturday after securing straight sets wins on the penultimate day of play in Loughborough

The champion in Rotterdam earlier this month, Hewett beat Japanese third seed Takuya Miki 6-0, 6-0 in his latest semi-final. Reid’s overcame Dutch opposition, recovering from 4-2 down in his second set to beat fifth seed Maikel Scheffers 6-2, 6-4.

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 Belgian 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 out to American third seed Dana Mathewson 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. Meanwhile, British No.2 Lucy Shuker bowed out to top seed Aniek van Koot 6-2, 6-1. However, Shuker and Whiley are through to play Dutch duo Jiske Griffioen and Van Koot in the women’s final after defeating Cornelia Ooztuizen and Denmark’s Louise Willerslev-Olsen 6-1, 7-5.

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. Barten leaves Loughborough as a dual champion after also partnering Israel’s Yosi Saadon to beat Cotterill and Greg Slade 6-3, 6-3 in the quad doubles title decider.

Day 3 recap

Jordanne Whiley staged a remarkable second set comeback to beat Rio Paralympic champion Jiske Grifioen and book her place in Friday’s women’s singles semi-finals in Loughborough.

Second seed and World No.4 Whiley reeled of six games in a row to defeat Griffioen 6-3, 7-5 on the third day of play and now faces American third seed Dana Mathewson in the last four.

Whiley is one of four Brits through to the singles semi-finals, with Lucy Shuker also one win away from Saturday’s finals after edging Germany’s Katharina Kruger 6-3, 7-6(0). Shuker plays top seed Aniek van Koot for a place in the final after van Koot’s 6-0, 6-0 win over Swiss eighth seed Nalani Buob.

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(7), 6-1, setting up a meeting with Japanese third seed Takuya Miki, who was a 7-6(2) 6-2 winner of Belgian Jef Vandorpe.

Reigning Paralympic champion and second seed Gordon Reid raced past Japan’s Daisuke Arai 6-0, 6-2 to secure a semi against Dutch fifth seed Maikel Scheffers, who survived one of the closest finishes on the day to beat Spain’s Martin de la Puente 6-0, 2-6, 7-5

Day 2 recap 

Antony Cotterill became the first Brit to book a place in a Loughborough Indoor final after coming through an epic three hour and 32 minute quad singles semi-final against Greg Slade. Cotterill beat Slade 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-4 to book his place in Friday’s title decider.

James Shaw’s hopes of making it an all-British final came undone against American top seed Bryan Barten. Despite taking a set off world No.12 Barten for the first time, Shaw eventually saw his singles campaign end 2-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Elsewhere, Brits Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid led all eight seeds into the men’s singles quarter-finals. Hewett, whose last visit to Loughborough in 2017 ended in victory at the NEC Singles Masters, defeated Spain’s Dani Caverzaschi 6-1, 6-2 to book a last eight meeting with Dutch seventh seed Ruben Spaargaren.

Reid plays Japanese seventh seed Daisuke Arai for a place in the semi-finals after beating the USA’s Casey Ratzlaff 6-3, 6-1.

Britain’s Jordanne Whiley faces Rio Paralympic champion Jiske Griffioen in Thursday’s women’s singles quarter-finals after Griffioen eliminated the first of the seeds to exit the tournament. Second seed and world No.5 Whiley raced past Denmark’s Louise Willerslev-Olsen, while former world No.1 Griffioen defeated Japanese fifth seed Manami Tanaka.

Also into the last eight is fourth seed Lucy Shuker, who won her all-Brit second round contest against Louise Hunt 6-2, 6-3 to earn a quarter-final against German seventh seed Katharina Kruger. However, there were straight sets losses for Cornelia Oosthuizen, Lauren Jones and Abbie Breakwell

Day 1 recap 

James Shaw and Greg Slade helped make it a good first day for the Brits at the Loughborough Indoor after both reaching the quad singles semi-finals.

Shaw beat fellow Brit Richard Green to earn a place in the last four against American top seed Bryan Barten, while 18-year-old Slade claimed his first main draw win in international competition after battling back to defeat Israel’s Yosi Saadon 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. Slade now goes into an all-British semi-final against second seed Antony Cotterill.

The opening exchanges in the men’s singles saw World No.1 Junior Ben Bartram progress to a second round meeting with Dutch fifth seed Maikel Scheffers after beating India’s Manoj Somasundaram 6-0, 6-2, but fellow British junior Dahnon Ward bowed out to Slovakia’s Marek Gergely 6-2, 7-6(2).

With the men’s singles top seeds all having first round byes, top seed Alfie Hewett will play Daniel Caverzaschi for a place in the quarter-finals, while second seed Gordon Reid will the face USA’s Casey Ratzlaff after the Spaniard won one of the matches of the day to defeat Austria’s Nico Langmann 5-7, 6-0, 6-3.

Also in action today was Cornelia Oosthuizen who beat Israel's Maaya Zikri 6-1, 6-3 in the first women's singles match of the week and will therefore join the likes of Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker in the second round.