France and Netherlands win World Team titles in Turkey

“We’ve all grown up together in this sport and the camaraderie this week has been amazing”

Tournament favourite France have won the men’s World Group title at the wheelchair tennis BNP Paribas World Team Cup, defeating number two seed Netherlands on Sunday (26 May) 2-0 - the fifth World Team Cup title for Nicolas Peifer, Stephane Houdet and Frederic Cattaneo.

Sweden, winner of the 2010 World Team Cup claimed the bronze medal beating Japan 2-0.

With the victory in the men’s World Group II, Australia have been promoted to play in the men’s World Group I again for the 2014 season.

The USA, who finished eleventh in group one, and Greece, who were runners up in group two, went head-head on the last day of competition in Antalya in a relegation and promotion battle.

The USA retained its place after Steve Baldwin and Steve Welch won both singles against Stefanos Diamantis and Georgos Lazaridis respectively, giving the USA a 2-0 win.

In the women’s competition it was also the top seeded team that claimed the title. The Netherlands beat Great Britain in the final on Friday (24 May) and won the World Group title for the 26th time. The world’s top two ranked players Aniek van Koot and Jiske Griffioen defeated Lucy Shuker (World No. 5) and Jordanne Whiley (World No. 9). Japan won bronze with a 2-0 victory over Germany.

In the quad competition, the USA won the title against Israel repeating the bronze and gold medal matches of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Nick Taylor won against Shraga Weinberg 6-3,6-0 and David Wagner defeated Noam Gershony 6-2, 6-2.

“We’ve all grown up together in this sport and the camaraderie this week has been amazing,” USA player Bryan Barten said about the team spirit of the competition.

The bronze medal match of the quad competition came down to Italy and Japan, with Italy displaying stronger nerves at the end with a 2-1 win.

In the junior competition, Great Britain won their second title beating Spain 2-1. Alfie Hewett and Lauren Jones won the deciding doubles match in a thrilling championship tie-break.

Second seed Netherlands took the bronze medal against Russia.

The BNP Paribas World Team Cup is an annual team event which began in 1985. It has been held in 16 different countries with an average of 300 participants.

This year it took place in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera from 20-26 May 2013.