Antony Cotterill, Andy Lapthorne and Lucy Shuker ensured a brace of UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters titles for players on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis World Class Programme on Sunday when, between them, they clinched victory in the quad doubles and women’s doubles finals in Mission Viejo, California.
Louise Hunt & Dana Mathewson (Photo: Tennis Foundation)
Cotterill and Lapthorne secured an all-British triumph in the quad doubles, while Shuker partnered Diede de Groot of the Netherlands to victory in a women’s doubles final that also featured fellow Brit Louise Hunt.
Lapthorne and Shuker will now look to try and translate their latest doubles victories into singles success when they line up for the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters, which begins in London later this month.
Cotterill and Lapthorne went into the tournament as quad doubles second seeds and won two of their three round-robin matches to book their place in the final. The only loss showing on their record was to Taylor and Wagner after Lapthorne had to withdraw after the first set of the match-up between the two partnerships due to illness.
However, Cotterill and Lapthorne dug deep in the final to snatch the opening set and after taking a 3-0 lead in the decider they were never headed again, closing out a 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 victory.
Andy Lapthorne & Antony Cotterill (Photo: Tennis Foundation)
“After a tough week it’s great to come out and finally win the Doubles Masters again,” said Lapthorne, who also won the 2010 title partnering another fellow Brit, Peter Norfolk. “I’m thrilled to have won after such a long time. Big thanks to Ant and the Tennis Foundation Team out here for looking after me this week. It’s going to be great to go back home with this title and I’ll be working hard to try and add the singles title at the NEC Masters in front of a home crowd in a few weeks.”
“This is a fantastic end to the week. I’m really pleased Andy was able to play after his sickness and he played really well. I’m delighted to get my first ever masters title under my belt,” said Cotterill after one of the biggest victories of his career.
In the women’s doubles Hunt and her American partner Dana Mathewson beat the second seeds Katharina Kruger and Michaela Spaanstra in their round-robin matches to ensure they would avoid meeting top seeds Shuker and de Groot in the semi-finals, with both Brits and their partners topping their pools.
Both partnerships won their semi-finals in straight sets as Shuker reached her fourth Doubles Masters final and Hunt her second final in three years. After splitting two close sets in the final, the deciding set saw the momentum shift both ways, Hunt and Mathewson stringing together four games in a row to lead 4-2. However, Shuker and de Groot edged the last four games to wrap up 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
“I’m very proud to have claimed my first Doubles Masters title alongside Diede. It’s been an absolute pleasure playing with her here and I feel our styles complement each other extremely well so I look forward to partnering her again in a couple of weeks’ time at Bath Indoors, where I’ll continue my build up to the NEC Masters,” said Shuker.
Louise Hunt said: “I’m incredibly disappointed that we didn’t win the final because it was so close and it felt like there were just a few points in it. Obviously I’m pleased that we managed to beat our seeding and it was as an absolute privilege to play with a great player and one of my best friends. Now I’ll have a few days break and then the focus is Bath Indoors.”
A memorable final day for the Brits at the Doubles Masters saw Alfie Hewett and David Phillipson better their pre-tournament fourth seeding to finish in third place. Hewett and Phillipson defeated Brazilian duo Mauricio Pomme and Carlos Santos 6-1, 6-3 for the highest Doubles Masters finishing position yet for both players.
The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters is the ITF’s year-end championship for the world’s top ranked wheelchair tennis singles players. The top eight men’s and women’s players and the top six quad players in the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Rankings are invited to battle it out to be crowned master of their division.
You can buy your tickets here.
Report courtesy of the Tennis Foundation
