Shuker lifts Sydney International doubles title
Shuker lifts Sydney International doubles title as Brits reach four finals
13/01/18
Alfie Hewett finished runner-up on Saturday in the first men’s singles Super Series final of 2018 at the Sydney International Open.
A year on from reaching his first career Super Series singles final in Sydney, Hewett was runner-up in the event for the second time after Japanese seventh seed Shingo Kunieda won his fifth Sydney title 6-4, 6-4.
"Not the performance or result I would have wanted in the final. Congrats to Shingo on a deserved title. Never the less it's a been a good week and a lot of positives to take looking ahead to AO. Thank you Sydney."
12/01/18
Lucy Shuker partnered Japan’s Yui Kamiji to their second successive women’s doubles Super Series title on Friday’s fourth and penultimate day at the Sydney International Open. Meanwhile, Alfie Hewett reached the men’s singles final at the first tournament of the season for the second successive year.
Second seeds Shuker and Kamiji, who beat all-Dutch top seeds Marjolein Buis and Diede de Groot to win the US Open USTA Championships in St Louis at the last Super Series of 2017, repeated the feat in Sydney, where they were again second seeds. This time the Dutch top seeds on the other side of the net were de Groot and Aniek van Koot, with Shuker and Kamiji winning 6-4, 6-3.
“I’m extremely happy that Yui and I managed to get the win today. We have had some tight matches in the past against the top girls so it was really nice to get the first Super Series title this year,” said Shuker. “Conditions were pretty tough with 39 degrees but we played smart tennis and managed to get the win.”
"Big win today! Very happy with that one #SydneyInternational #DoublesChampions #SuperSeries."
Hewett faces seventh seed Shingo Kunieda of Japan in Saturday’s men’s singles final after winning his all-British semi-final against Gordon Reid for the second straight year in Sydney.
World No. 2 Hewett, who also beat world No. 4 Reid in the all-British final to end 2017 as NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters champion, stayed on course for back-to-back major titles with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Reid in Sydney.
However, the Sydney men’s doubles title narrowly eluded Hewett and Reid as their rivalry with French second seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer continued. Houdet and Peifer won the latest major final between the two partnerships 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
There were also doubles runner-up honours for Antony Cotterill and the USA’s David Wagner, with Australia’s Rio Paralympic champions Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson winning Friday’s quad doubles final 6-3, 6-1.
Earlier in the day Cotterill ended his singles campaign in Sydney on a winning note, beating Chinese Taipei’s Chu-Yin Huang 6-1, 6-4.
11/01/18
Brits will contest four finals at the first Super Series event of 2018 after Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, Lucy Shuker and Antony Cotterill all reached the men’s, women’s and quad doubles finals on Thursday’s third day of play in Sydney, with Hewett and Reid booking their place in an all-Brit men’s singles semi-final for the second successive year.
After three days of the 2018 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour Hewett and Reid have set up the first all-British meeting of the season.
World No.4 Reid ended the title defence of Frenchman Nicolas Peifer in his men’s singles quarter-final, beating the world No.5 6-1, 6-3. World No.2 Hewett, last year’s runner-up in Sydney, beat Wimbledon champion Stefan Olsson of Sweden 6-4, 6-3 to ensure a rematch of the 2017 semi-final in Sydney between Hewett and Reid.
Top seeds Hewett and Reid will play French second seeds and defending champions Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer in a rematch of last year’s men’s doubles final in Sydney after beating Belgium’s Joachim Gerard and Stefan Olsson 6-4, 6-4 in their semi-final.
Meanwhile, Shuker and Japan’s Yui Kamiji will face Dutch top seeds Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot in the women’s doubles final after dominating their semi-final to beat the all-Japanese partnership of Kanako Domori and Mie Fukazawa 6-0, 6-0
Cotterill and the USA’s David Wagner will meet Australia’s Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson in the quad doubles final after top seeds Cotterill and Wagner defeated the all-Japanese pairing of Shota Kawano and Mitsuteru Moroishi 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 in Thursday’s semi-finals.
However, Cotterill and Shuker both saw their singles challenges come to an end in the quarter-finals after Shuker slipped to a 6-1, 6-3 loss to world No. 1 Kamiji and Cotterill bowed out to Davidson 6-2, 6-2 in the last eight of the quad singles.
10/01/18
Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid booked their place in the men’s doubles semi-finals and Lucy Shuker partnered Japan’s Yui Kamiji to the women’s doubles semi-finals on Wednesday in Sydney as the start of the doubles events filled much of the second day’s schedule.
As with their opening singles matches, Hewett and Reid had to wait until the end of the second day of play to get their doubles campaign underway. However, once on court they wasted little time in beating Japanese duo Daisuke Arai and Yoshinobu Fujimoto 6-2, 6-1.
Top seeds Hewett and Reid now play third seeds Joachim Gerard and Stefan Olsson for a place in the final. They meet the Belgian-Swedish pairing for the second successive tournament after beating Gerard and Olsson in three sets in the second of their three round-robin matches at November’s UNQILO Wheelchair Doubles Maters.
Second seeds Shuker and Kamiji will play Japan’s Kanako Domori and Mie Fukazawa for a place in the women’s doubles final after beating Chinese duo Hui Min Huang and Zhenzhen Zhu 6-2, 6-0.
Thursday’s third day of competition will see Antony Cotterill open his quad singles challenge against Australia’s Heath Davidson. Cotterill will also partner the USA’s David Wagner in the quad doubles semi-finals on Thursday. The top seeds bid to reach the final when they take on Japanese duo Shota Kawano and Mitsuteru Moroishi.
09/01/18
Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid and Lucy Shuker secured a full house of British wins on Tuesday’s opening day of play of the Sydney International as all three players made successful 2018 seasonal debuts.
Shuker begins the year with back-to-back matches against Japanese opponents. The world No.6 plays world No.1 Yui Kamiji in the quarter-finals after defeating Manami Tanaka 6-0, 6-3.
After first round byes Hewett and Reid had to wait until the end of the first day of play before beginning their campaigns. World No.2 Hewett beat Sydney local Ben Weekes 6-4, 6-1, with world No.4 Reid defeating Japan’s Yoshinobu Fujimoto 6-0, 6-1.
While Hewett plays Swedish sixth seed Stefan Olsson next in the last eight, Reid faces defending Sydney champion Nicolas Peifer of France. Wins for both Hewett and Reid would see them meet in the semi-finals in Sydney for the second successive year.
Hewett and Reid are top seeds for the men’s doubles and also have a first round bye before beginning their bid to go one better than last year when they reached the final in Sydney.
Shuker and Kamiji are second seeds for the women’s doubles and begin the event with a first round contest against China’s Hui Min Huang and Zhenzhen Zhu.
While Antony Cotterill still awaits his first round quad singles match against Australian Heath Davidson, he will partner the USA’s David Wagner in the quad doubles. Cotterill and Wagner, the top seeds, play Japan’s Shota Kawano and Mitsuteru Moroishi for a place in the final.
08/01/18
With five Brits on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis World Class Programme scheduled to be in action this month during the Australian Wheelchair Tennis Summer Series. Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid, Lucy Shuker and Antony Cotterill line up this week for the Sydney International Open, as the 2018 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour gets underway with the first of six Super Series events.
While 2017 closed with an all-Brit men’s singles final at the NEC Masters, Hewett and Reid’s first meeting of last season came in the Sydney semi-finals, a contest that Hewett won to book his place in his first Super Series final.
"Back in Sydney for the Australian Summer series! Bit toastie some would say."
World No.2 Hewett and world No.4 Reid are in the same half of the draw again and could therefore meet in the last four once more. Both Brits have first round byes, with Hewett to open 2018 against one of two Australians, Keegan Oh-Chee or Ben Weekes, while Reid’s first match of the year will be against China’s Shunjiang Dong or Yoshinobu Fujimoto of Japan.
A quarter-finalist last year before being edged out in a final set tie-break by Diede de Groot, British No.1 and world No. 6 Shuker begins her women’s singles campaign this year against Japan’s Manami Tanaka, with the winner advancing to the last eight.
Meanwhile, Cotterill returns to Sydney for the first time since reaching the quad singles quarter-finals and finishing runner-up in the quad doubles in 2016. World No.7 Cotterill opens the new season against Australia’s world No. 5 and fourth seed Heath Davidson.
