Dutch Duo Survives Scare on Day 1 of Doubles Masters

The opening day of the Invacare Doubles Masters Wheelchair Tennis event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, provided quite the thriller, as Great Britain’s Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley nearly shocked the Netherlands’ Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot.

In a rematch of this year’s Wimbledon semifinal (where Griffioen and van Koot won in straight sets), Shuker and Whiley fell just short in a tiebreaker after three hard-fought sets. Griffioen and van Koot, who have finished runners up in every Grand Slam event this year, escaped with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory.

In the other women’s round-robin match, the Netherlands’ Esther Vergeer and Sharon Walraven swept teammate Marjolein Buis and Belgium’s Annick Sevenans in straight sets at Frans Otten Stadium, 6-2, 6-2.

The men’s group matches were highlighted by French duo Frederic Cattaneo and Nicolas Peifer’s 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Great Britain’s Marc McCarroll and Gordon Reid.

Four-time Doubles Masters champions Nick Taylor and David Wagner of the USA had no problem in their opening quad round-robin match, taking the easy 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italy’s Antonio Raffaele and the Netherlands’ Dorrie Timmermans-van Hall.

The tournament resumes Thursday with more pool play matches.