Reigning Paralympic champion Gordon Reid claimed his first men’s singles title of 2021 today after beating fellow Brit and top seed Alfie Hewett 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to lift the inaugural Loughborough Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament crown.
Hewett and Reid later joined forces to claim their third successive men’s doubles title of the season as the first LTA international competition staged in Britain in almost 12 months drew to a close.
World No.5 and second seed Reid bounced back from a set and 5-3 down against Hewett to earn his first singles title since September 2019 in two hours and two minutes. After his first victory over world No. 3 and Rio silver medallist Hewett in international competition since the 2018 French Open at Roland Garros, Reid 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.
“I had to take a few risks and try to get on the front foot early in the points and take Alfie’s time away from him. When he’s in control and has time then he’s really dangerous, so I had to do what I could to put him under pressure. I thought I did that well from the end of the second set.”
Saturday’s singles final was the second all-British title decider Reid and Hewett have contested this month after meeting in the Rotterdam ITF 1 title decider three weeks ago. They also won their second doubles title of the year in Rotterdam and the 10-time Grand Slam champions made it a 2021 hat-trick in Loughborough after racing past Dutch second seeds Maikel Scheffers and Ruben Spaargaren 6-0, 6-1.
With Hewett and Reid having equalled the British record for most successful doubles partnership at the Grand Slams when they retained their Australian Open men’s doubles title last month, Hewett heralded another fine week. He said:
“We’re stronger than ever on the doubles court at the moment and really dynamic and adaptable. I think that’s one of our biggest strengths. We work hard off the court and to get these kinds of results is a big thing for us.
“To lose to Gordon in the singles final was a disappointing result,” added Hewett “I feel like I’ve been playing some of my best singles tennis recently and the level of the match was incredible from both of us today. I was playing some really good stuff for the first set and a half and from then on Gordon stepped it up and I struggled. I kept it competitive in the third set but he was too good for me today and deserved to win.”
The penultimate match of this week’s tournament saw Brits Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley finish runners-up to Dutch duo Jiske Griffioen and Van Koot in the women’s doubles final.
Playing their first tournament together since winning the ITF 2 Bolton Indoor title early in 2020, two-time Paralympic bronze medallists Shuker and Whiley were edged out 4-6, 6-4, 10-3 by the Rio Paralympic champions.
A successful event for players on the LTA’s Wheelchair Tennis World Class Programme, the Loughborough Indoor saw Antony Cotterill finish runner-up in Friday’s quad singles final to American top seed Bryan Barten, while Cotterill and fellow Brit Greg Slade were also runners-up in the quad doubles.
For news and updates from the Loughborough Indoor follow on Twitter @WChairTennisGB and @the_LTA and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GBWheelchairTennis/.
To find out more about the LTA’s work with disability tennis, head to www.lta.org.uk/play or email disabilitytennis@lta.org.uk.
Photo courtesy of the LTA