Vergeer to face Griffioen in bid for 10th title at British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships

24 July 2010

World No 1 Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands will bid for her 10th British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships title on Saturday when she takes on her compatriot and world No 7 Jiske Griffioen in the women's singles final at Nottingham Tennis Centre.

Meanwhile, American world No 2 and top seed David Wagner will face Sweden’s world No 3 Johan Andersson in the quad singles final.

Vergeer raced into a 3-0 lead in her semi-final on Friday against another fellow Dutch player, world No 6 Aniek van Koot.  Van Koot took a 40-0 lead in the fourth game and eventually held serve on her fourth game point to get on the scoreboard, but that was to be the most success she could achieve as Vergeer chalked up the 389th successive singles victory in her unprecedented winning streak with a comfortable 6-0, 6-1 win.  

Meanwhile, fourth seed Griffioen was even more convincing in her semi-final as she brought to an end the impressive run of Britain's Jordanne Whiley.  With British No 2 Whiley competing in her very first Super Series semi-final, the unseeded 18-year-old was unable to rediscover the kind of form that saw her beat world No 5 Florence Alix-Gravellier of France on Thursday and an excellent performance from Griffioen saw her earn a 6-0, 6-0 victory.
 
Wagner faced a rematch of last Sunday’s Swiss Open final as he took on Canadian world No 5 Sarah Hunter in the quad singles semi-finals.  However, whereas Hunter gained the spoils in Geneva last week, it was Wagner who recovered from 4-1 down in the second set en route to wrapping up a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory. 

“After losing to Sarah at the Swiss Open I was very pleased with that today and I have to say that it was a quality tennis match and definitely one of the most enjoyable matches I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in the last few years,” said Wagner.

Andersson broke former British Open champion Shraga Weinberg of Israel immediately at the start of their semi-final and went on to secure a 6-3, 6-3 victory. 
 
British No 1 Lucy Shuker maintains hopes of a British main draw champion at this week's event after partnering Frenchwoman Florence Alix-Gravellier to Sunday's women's doubles final. 

Second seeds Shuker and Alix-Gravellier beat the all-Dutch third seeds Marjolein Buis and Griffioen 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in Friday’s semi-finals and now meet top seeds Annick Sevenans of Belgium and Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands in Sunday's final.  Sevenans and van Koot had a much more straightforward victory in their semi-final, beating German fourth seeds Sabine Ellerbrock and Katharina Kruger 6-3, 6-1. 

There was something of an upset in the men’s main draw doubles semi-finals as third seeds Robin Ammerlaan and Rom Egberink outstayed reigning Doubles Masters champions Maikel Scheffers and Ronald Vink in a pulsating all-Dutch contest.

Ammerlaan, who recently won his third Wimbledon men’s wheelchair tennis doubles title, paired up with current world No 1 ranked junior players Egberink to secure a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory.

Ammerlaan and Egberink will play top seeds Stephane Houdet of France and Satoshi Saida of Japan in Saturday’s men’s main draw doubles final after Houdet and Saida beat French fourth seeds Frederic Cattaneo and Nicolas Peifer 7-6(5), 6-0.

Saturday’s penultimate day of play at the 21st British Open will also feature the men’s singles semi-finals and the quad doubles semi-finals, while the day will also include a visit from Mandeville, the mascot for the London 2012 Paralympics. 

Seven of the world’s top 10 men, six of the world’s top 10 women and seven of the world’s top 10 quad division players head a field of 100 entrants for the 21st British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships, which continues until Sunday 25th July 2010, with the finals scheduled for both Saturday, 24th and Sunday, 25th July. 

Entry is FREE to all spectators throughout the week.

The 21st British Open is supported by Nottingham City Council, Babolat, Grandstand Seating, Highland Spring and Owen Brown as well as the Tennis Foundation and the National Wheelchair Tennis Association of Great Britain (NWTA).

Click here to see the order of play for day 5.