ITF

ITFWORLD WINTER 2017 13 www.itftennis.com up and fill the void; she has not been found wanting, winning Wimbledon, her first Grand Slam title, and now the Masters. Hewett admitted, despite winning his opening round-robin match against Stefan Olsson, that he was struggling to find his A game early on in Loughborough. Confirmation of that fact came the following day when he lost to Shingo Kunieda. His prospects of reaching the semifinals were not good because he now needed to beat the wily 47-year-old Frenchman, Stephane Houdet, something he hadn't managed in nine attempts. At a set and 3-1 down, it's fair to say that his chances of stopping the rot were slim to non-existent. Whether it was the sight of Hewett's fellow Brit Gordon Reid picking himself up off the floor against the world No. 1 Gustavo Fernandez to win 63 16 75, saving three match points in the process, or his own remarkable powers of resilience that inspired him it is hard to say. Probably the latter, but from nowhere Hewett produced the performance of his young life to win 26 76(8) 64, saving two match points himself. Twenty-four hours later he faced the two-time defending Masters champion Joachim Gerard. Hewett had finished the match against Houdet utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally, not to mention in tears. Surely he could never recover in time. Inexplicably, he awoke the following morning feeling completely energised — "the best I've felt all week", he said — and then went on to court to beat, no, thrash the Belgian 60 62. "Insane, insane," was all that Gerard could say afterwards. After Reid's magical 2016, during which he won Paralympic gold in singles and silver in doubles, two Grand Slams and rose to No. 1 in the world, he had come down to earth with a thud. He revealed to itftennis. com that he was close to giving up the sport De Groot was Doubles Masters champion too with Marjolein Buis Runner-up Gordon Reid Defending champion Joachim Gerard David Wagner won an incredible tenth title World No. 1 Yui Kamiji in action

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