British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships Kick Off in Nottingham

Great Britain’s Gordon Reid and Marc McCarroll advanced to the second round of the men’s main draw singles on Tuesday, 19 July, at the 22nd British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Nottingham.

Being part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, the British Open saw British No. 1 Reid beat Frenchman Lahcen Majdi 6-4, 6-0 in his opening match.

Reid will now face world No. 6 Ronald Vink in the last 16 on Wednesday, having beaten him for the very first time at last month’s French Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Paris.

Reid is joined in the second round by British No. 3 McCarroll, who won his first ever men’s main draw singles match at the British Open after defeating fellow Briton Kevin Simpson 6-1, 6-2. McCarroll plays sixth seed Stefan Olsson of Sweden next.

However, it was a disappointing day for British No. 2 David Phillipson, who slipped to a 4-6, 6-4, 2-6 loss to rising young Japanese player Takashi Sanada.

Elsewhere, in the men’s main draw third seed Nicolas Peifer (FRA) comfortably won his first round match against his compatriot and former world No. 1 Michael Jeremiasz 6-2, 6-1. Meanwhile, former world No. 1 ranked junior Tom Egberink of the Netherlands defeated Argentina’s current world No. 1 junior Gustavo Fernandez 7-6(4), 6-1.

In the women’s main draw singles all three top ranked British Wheelchair Tennis players advanced to the second round after Jordanne Whiley defeated Australia’s Janel Manns 6-1 6-2. Whiley will now play Belgian fifth seed Annick Sevenans. In the last match of the first day to finish, Great Britain’s Louise Hunt won a thrilling match against Japan’s Miho Nijo, coming from 5-2 down in the first set to prevail 7-6, 5-7, 6-1.

Hunt plays her compatriot Lucy Shuker in Wednesday’s second round after Shuker had a first round bye along with the other seven seeded players, including world No. 1 Esther Vergeer. Vergeer begins her bid for an 11th successive British Open title on Wednesday with a match against South African’s Kgothatso Montjane and starts this year’s British Open currently unbeaten in 418 matches since February 2003.

The quad singles draw saw Great Britain’s Adam Field and John Parfitt both posting first round victories. Field beat Canadian world No. 20 Adrian Dieleman 6-3, 7-6 to face American world No. 6 Nick Taylor in the next round. After his win against American David Jorand, John Parfitt has a tough match coming up against fellow Briton and world No. 2 Peter Norfolk.

Wednesday’s second day of play also includes the start of the doubles draws.

The 22nd British Open is supported by Nottingham City Council and Highland Spring and entry is free to all spectators throughout the tournament.