SCOTLAND’S Kevin Simpson clinched the men’s wheelchair tennis singles title at the Pretoria Open, ending two weeks of back-to-back tournaments in South Africa, writes MARSHALL THOMAS.
And there was more cause for celebration with Antony Cotterill and Adam Field winning the quad doubles at the Wroclaw Cup in Poland – with Field having also secured his place in the quad singles final.
Linlithgow-based British No 5 Simpson put up a determined performance to edge out the host nation’s Evan Maripa in the three sets in Thursday afternoon’s men’s final at the ITF Futures Series Pretoria Open, Simpson prevailing 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 to avenge his 4-6, 4-6 quarter-final loss to Maripa at last week’s Polokwane Open.
“Today I had to change my game plan against Maripa. When we last competed I was comfortable enough to sit on the backline and attempt to return his big serves but it lost me the match. Today I varied the height and spin on my balls and used a lot more angles drawing him out of his comfort zone. One thing about Maripa is that he never gives up – I was 5-3 up in the second set and he fought backing winning the tiebreak.”
While he won the men’s singles, Simpson and his Dutch partner Jelle Oosterwijk had to be content with runners-up honours in the men’s doubles for the second week in succession.
Simpson and Oosterwijk lost 1-6, 2-6 to Maripa and his fellow South African Sydwell Mathonsi in the doubles final at the Polokwane Open a week ago, but despite a closer first set this time it was the South African duo that still came out on top 7-5, 6-2.
At the ITF 2 Series Wroclaw Cup second seeds Cotterill and Field eased to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Liam O’Reilly and Israel’s Boaz Kramer in the quad doubles final.
With three Britons in the doubles final, the same three British players were drawn in the bottom half of the quad singles draw, Cotterill defeating O’Reilly 6-3, 6-2 to book his place in the last four before second seed Field put up on the best performances of his season to date to beat Cotterill 6-1, 6-1 and keep his title defence on track.
Field, who won the first ITF 2 Series title of his career in Wroclaw in 2010, now faces top seed Kramer in the final as he bids to retain the title.
Seventeen-year-old Dermot Bailey has also been carrying British hopes in the men’s second draw singles in Poland, reaching the semi-finals before a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Belgium’s Kristof Michils.
Bailey and his Japanese partner Makoto Yoshida also bowed out in the last four of the men’s second draw doubles.
