Doubles Masters 2018: Favourites set for semis

The top two seeds are into the men’s semi-finals after the all-French team of Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer joined Gustavo Fernandez and Gordon Reid in making it two wins from two matches on day two of the wheelchair tennis Doubles Masters in Bemmel, Netherlands.

The French duo maintained pole position in Pool A by beating Joachim Gerard and Stefan Olsson. Houdet and Peifer came from 4-2 down to lead 5-4 in the second set, but they were unable to complete a straight sets victory and eventually pulled through 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.

Also in Pool A, Dani Caverzaschi and Martin de la Puente posted a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over the Argentinian-Brazilian partnership of Agustin Ledesma and Daniel Rodrigues.

This means the Spaniards and Gerard-Olsson will determine the second couple qualified for the next round.

Pool B brought another dominant performance from second seeds Fernandez and Reid.

Having dropped just one game to Japan’s Shingo Kunieda and Takashi Sanada on the first match, the Argentine and the Brit did it again by defeating Dutchmen Tom Egberink and Michael Scheffers 6-1, 6-0.

Meanwhile, Asian Para Games gold medallists Kunieda and Sanada were given a considerable test by the young partnership of Ruben Spaargaren and Jef Vandorpe, with the Japanese duo winning narrowly 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.

Egberink and Scheffers will now meet Kunieda and Sanada in the contest to decide the second team that will advance to the semi-finals.

De Groot and Shuker into women’s semis

After dropping just four games in their opening Pool A match, top seeds and 2016 champions Diede de Groot and Lucy Shuker guaranteed themselves a place in the semi-finals with another dominant performance.

The Dutch-Brit couple powered past Charlotte Famin of France and South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane 6-0, 6-0.

Famin and Montjane’s second and final contest against Katharina Kruger and Michaela Spaantra will confirm the second pairing that will earn a semi-finals berth.

After losing out to Louise Hunt and Dana Mathewson in a final set tiebreak, Thursday’s action saw second seeds Marjolein Buis and Aniek van Koot complete their Pool B matches on a victorious note.

The all-Dutch team won the crucial points for a 7-5, 6-4 win over Japan’s Momoko Ohtani and Manami Tanaka.

Defending champions dominate

US pair Nick Taylor and David Wagner’s quad doubles title defence continued with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over British top seeds Antony Cotterill and Andy Lapthorne.

Bryan Barten and Ymanitu Silva won the day’s other round-robin match against Greg Hasterok and Lucas Sithole 6-3, 6-1.