Three British champions at the Vilnius Open
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British wheelchair tennis players completed back-to-back tournaments in Lithuania with a second title treble in a little over a week as Joshua Johns and Ruby Bishop won the men’s and women’s singles at the Vilnius Open, with Oliver Cox lifting the quad doubles title.
It was a landmark week for Johns as he earned the first senior men’s singles main draw title of his career. After dropping two games across his first two matches to reach the semi-finals, Johns then beat top seed Tomoya Tachi 7-5, 7-6(3) for his second win over the Japanese player in a week, while the Vilnius Open title came courtesy of a walkover in the final.
Hopes of back-to-back men’s doubles titles ended for Johns at the final hurdle, partnering Ireland’s Gareth Green. The second seeds earned a 6-1, 6-2 win over Xavier Donker and Keisuke Kadowaki and a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Polish fourth seeds Krzysztof Kowalewski and Szymon Nowicki en route to the title decider before losing out to Tachi and Emirhan Toper of Turkey, the top seeds, 6-4, 6-1 in the final.
A second successive women’s singles title in a week in Lithuania has also resulted in a new career landmark for Bishop as she becomes British women’s No.2 for the first time in her career.
The top seed was in fine form after a first round bye, defeating Ladislava Porizkova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1 in her opening match after a first round bye. That set Bishop up for a rematch against Lithuanian Open runner-up Diana Nikiforova and having beaten the Latvian 6-2, 6-3 a few days earlier she was even more dominant in their last meeting, easing to the title 6-0, 6-2.
After earning the fourth women’s singles title of her career, Bishop has moved up six places in this week’s world rankings to No.45, just six spots short of her career best.
Winner of the quad singles at the Lithuanian Open, Cox finished runner-up in the corresponding event at the Vilnius Open after defeating Estonia’s Jaano Kraav 6-1, 6-1 in his semi-final but then losing out to German top seed Marcus Laudan 6-4, 6-2.
However, Cox ended his Lithuanian campaign on a winning note after partnering Turkey’s Serdar Antac to two straight sets wins to lift the quad doubles title, culminating in a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over Antac and Laudan.
