Sam Schroder targets fourth straight Australian Open quad singles title
Everything you need to know about the Australian Open Wheelchair Championships. 21 Jan 2025
The Australian Open Wheelchair Championships, the first of four Grand Slams of 2025, opened on 20 January, with more than 50 players competing in the men’s, women’s, and quad tournaments.
Sam Schroder, who is ranked world No. 1 in the quad singles, aims to become the first player since Australia’s four-time Paralympic champion Dylan Alcott to win four successive Australian Open quad singles titles.
Schroder, who won quad doubles gold and a silver in singles at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, finished last year as world No. 1 for the first time since 2021. He opened his campaign with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Ymanitu Silva of Brazil and will face Chile's Francisco Cayulef in the quarter-finals.
Schroder’s doubles partner Niels Vink is also looking to complete his own piece of history, with the Australian Open being the only title he needs to complete his career Grand Slam. Vink, who captured the Melbourne Open Super Series title earlier this month, beat Canada's Robert Shaw in his opening match.
Paris 2024 Paralympic champion Yui Kamiji is targeting her first Grand Slam singles title since winning the French Open and the Australian Open in 2020. Kamiji launched her bid for a third singles title at Melbourne Park with a comfortable win over fellow Japanese Shiori Funamizu and will face Lizzy de Greef on Wednesday.
Reigning Australian Open champion Diede de Groot has not yet returned to competition after planned surgery shortly after Paris 2024.
Ten years from the first of her two Australian Open singles titles, world No. 4 Jiske Griffioen will face qualifier Mariska Venter of South Africa. The 2013 champion Aniek van Koot started her campaign with a 6-1, 6-2 win over world No. 8 Zhu Zhenzhen.
In the men’s singles, Daisuke Arai beat Spain's four-time Paralympian Daniel Caverzaschi in three sets to set up a meeting with Paris 2024 semifinalist Martin de la Puente. Arai, who advanced to the main draw through the qualifying draw, beat Caverzaschi in a match lasting more than two hours.
Among the most eye-catching quarter-final matchups, reigning Paralympic champion Tokito Oda will face fellow Japanese Takashi Sanada on the back of beginning his season with victory at the Melbourne Open Super Series.