ITF

ITFWorld // WINTER 2018 2 5 MIXED WITH A HEALTHY POURING OF FAMILIARITY AND POTENT DASH OF REDEMPTION, A NEW NAME ON THE ROLL OF honour ensured the 25th edition of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters proved a robust cocktail of intrigue and excitement. The trailblazer in the ITF's year-end tournament on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour was reigning Paralympic champion Dylan Alcott, who triumphed in the quad singles final following a 36 75 64 comeback victory over world No. 3 Andy Lapthorne. Alcott broke new ground at the USTA National Campus at Lake Nona by becoming the first Australian to pick up the title since the quad singles category was added to the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters programme in 2004. The 28-year-old's success also ended the six-year monopoly of American David Wagner, who, despite competing on home soil, failed to emerge from the round- robin phase of the tournament. Ten-time champion Wagner started his title defence in predictable fashion by defeating former finalist Lucas Sithole 63 64 in his opening Pool B clash, but then succumbed to defeat against Great Britain's Lapthorne. Lapthorne overcame the burden of an 11-match winless streak against the powerful Fullerton-born right-hander to prevail 64 61, a setback which ultimately put paid to Wagner's hopes of progression. Wagner missed out on a place in the last four by a paltry 1.5 per cent on countback of games won compared to games played, following world No. 6 Sithole's 64 64 win against Lapthorne. Both Lapthorne and Sithole reached the semifinals. Six-time Grand Slam winner Alcott and Masters first- timer Koji Sugeno emerged from Pool A after the latter dispatched another Australian, Heath Davidson, 61 46 63, in their final group match. Alcott, who was denied Masters joy following defeat to Wagner in the 2014 final, confirmed his shot at glory by overpowering South Africa's Sithole 62 63, while Lapthorne comfortably brushed aside Sugeno 62 60. All that was left was for Alcott to recover from the loss of the opening set, while he also trailed 3-1 in the third, and beat Lapthorne. In the process he returned to the summit of the quad singles UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Rankings. "It's cool because I haven't been world No. 1 for a while," said Alcott. "I didn't play enough [on the wheelchair circuit] last year so to be No. 1 again is great." In the men's singles, Belgium's Joachim Gerard, who was crowned champion in 2015 and 2016, regained the title he had relinquished 12 months earlier by downing world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda. The then-world No. 6, who rose two places in the global standings following his triumph in Orlando, kept his composure in the final set to win 61 67(5) 63, and immediately dedicated victory to his long-time coach Marc Grandjean, who is living with a neurodegenerative condition. "For sure it's special for me, because of him, because it's something which shouldn't happen and every time I think about it, it makes me sad," said Gerard. "I won't lie, during the match I thought about it. I wanted to bring back the title for my other coach too, but especially for him. He was there for me for so many years and did so much for me." It was very much a case of the usual suspects in the women's singles as world No. 1 Diede de Groot seized her second successive NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters title with victory over Yui Kamiji of Japan in the final. De Groot prevailed 63 75 when pitted against world No. 2 Kamiji, who is the only competitor not to hail from the Netherlands to have claimed the women's title in the 25 years of the NEC Masters. That victory came in 2013, while De Groot joins Monique Kalkman, Esther Vergeer and Jiske Griffioen in winning the tournament at least twice. Vergeer sealed the title on an incredible 14 occasions. De Groot broke midway through the first set and maintained her advantage before racing into a 3-0 and then 5-2 lead in the second, only to be pegged back to 5-5 before closing out proceedings. "I like the chase and I don't like being chased, so when it got to 5-5 I just tried to stay calm," said De Groot, who defeated Lucy Shuker, Giulia Capocci, Sabine Ellerbrock and world No. 3 Aniek van Koot on her way to the final. "I just kept going and stayed calm and I managed to do that really well." Until his demise in the round-robin stage of the quad singles, Wagner had been chasing back-to-back titles after teaming up with fellow American Nick Taylor earlier in the month to win the quad doubles title at the UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters in Bemmel. Lapthorne and Anthony Cotterill were billed as top seeds but the 2016 champions lost 64 76(6) as Wagner and Taylor claimed their 11th success at this event. Gerard and Stefan Olsson were also entrenched in the trophy hunt, although reigning Australian Open and Roland Garros champions Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer claimed their second men's title in three years. The duo beat Wimbledon finalists Gerard and Olsson 16 64 76(3) in the decisive showdown after two hours and 37 minutes of play to regain the trophy they had last won in 2016. There was Dutch delight in the women's draw as home favourites and second seeds Marjolein Buis and Van Koot overpowered Louise Hunt of Great Britain and American Dana Mathewson, 63 61, to lift the much-coveted silverware. The pair had lost to the same opponents after a final set tiebreak in their opening round-robin match of the tournament. Among a flurry of usual suspects, there was a new name on the honours board as the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters came to a thrilling conclusion. By Ross McLean and Marshall Thomas ➝ Andy Lapthorne suffered defeat in finals in both Bemmel and Orlando LEFT: Aniek van Koot and Marjolein Buis celebrated with a selfie after winning the women's doubles in Bemmel

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