MERSEYSIDE’S Jamie Burdekin and Andy Lapthorne (Middlesex) won the quad doubles title at the Nottingham Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament.
After an easy semi final victory against James Shaw (Nottingham) and South Africa’s Lucas Sithole (6-0, 6-2), Burdekin and Lapthorne went on to beat USA’s Bryan Barten and Brazil’s Ymanitu Silva 4-6, 7-5, (10-4).
However, there was also disappointment for Lapthorne, who lost a thrilling quad singles final against Sithole, and frustration for Britain’s other two top players, Gordon Reid (Helensburgh, Scotland) and Jordanne Whiley (Birmingham).
In a rematch of the British Open quad singles final in July, world No.4 Sithole came from 5-3 down to snatch the opening set and got the better of a thrilling finale to close out a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 win and make it two titles from two visits to Nottingham this year.
Jordanne Whiley missed out on the chance to emulate Sithole’s achievement and add the Nottingham Indoor title to the British Open women’s singles title she won in July after her semi-final victory over fellow Brit, Lucy Shuker 6-3, 6-2.
Whiley went down in the final to The Netherlands’ World No.9 Diede de de Groot, who started the tournament unseeded, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to clinch her first ITF 1 Series singles title.
Whiley came from 2-0 down to lead for the first time at 4-3 before reeling off the last two games of the opening set.
However, de Groot twice came from two games adrift herself in the second set and took the last three games to force the decider.
The 18-year-old who had already beaten the world No.5 and world No.6 en route to the final, made what proved to be a decisive breakthrough to lead the final set 5-3.
Whiley saved three match points from 40-0 down to narrow the deficit, but it was not enough as de Groot converted her next match point for one last break of serve to seal the biggest singles success of her career.
Meanwhile, Reid lost out in a dramatic men’s single final to Nicolas Peifer (France), who came from 3-0 down to take the opening set before Reid raced the through the second set for the loss of just the second game.
However, Peifer built a 3-0 lead in the decider and went on to complete a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory.
The men’s doubles title went to Joachim Gerard (Belgium) and Stefan Olsson (Sweden), who beat French third seeds Frederic Cattaneo and Stephane Houdet 6-1, 6-1 in the last final of the tournament.
The Dutch pair Marjoleine Buis and Michaela Spaanstra got the upper hand in a thrilling conclusion to the women’s doubles final, beating Lucy Shuker (Fleet, Hampshire) and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane 3-6, 6-4, (10-5) after a deciding match tie-break.
