Shingo Kunieda sets up final against Joachim Gerard

Shingo Kunieda will face Joachim Gerard and Jiske Griffioen will play against Yui Kamiji in the men’s and women’s NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters finals. 10 Nov 2013
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Shingo Kunieda

Japan's Shingo Kunieda is the No. 1-ranked men's singles player in the world and the top seed at the 2013 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters.

ⒸSteve Wylie
By ITF

Shingo Kunieda who wrapped up the 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory to reach his second successive NEC Masters final.

Shingo Kunieda and Joachim Gerard and Jiske Griffioen and Yui Kamiji will contest Monday’s (11 November) men’s and women’s singles finals at the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters after a series of semi-finals on Saturday in Mission Viejo, California in the USA.

 

Gerard and Kamiji’s progress to their respective finals comes in their debuts at the year-end championships for the world’s top singles players.

 

With the world’s top two players going head-to-head in the men’s singles semi-finals, world No. 1 Kunieda and world No. 2 Stephane Houdet went in to their match with three wins apiece over each other far this season, with Houdet having beaten his Japanese opponent in two out of three Grand Slam finals.

 

But it was Kunieda who wrapped up the 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 victory to reach his second successive NEC Masters final.

 

Kunieda started the stronger and after securing an immediate break he took a 4-1 lead before coming from two game points down in the eight game to secure the first set. It was Houdet’s turn to earn a break at the start of the second set and although Kunieda broke back, the Frenchman won the last four games to force a decider.

 

Kunieda went on to dominate the final set, building a 5-0 lead before Houdet showed signs of a recovery and saved a string of match points en route to pulling back his deficit to 5-2 before Kunieda pulled through.

 

World No. 6 Gerard continued his highly impressive NEC Masters debut as the Belgian secured a 6-2, 6-4 win over Argentina’s world No. 5 Gustavo Fernandez in the other semi-final. Gerard secured his third win over Fernandez in 11 career meetings and his second in five matches this season, with Fernandez acknowledging via Twitter that he had been beaten by “an opponent who was superior in every aspect.”

 

Gerard will now play Kunieda for the first time since 2009, when Kunieda won both of their matches comfortably. However, Gerard’s progress to the final is part of what has already been a landmark season for the 25-year-old, who has reached a career best ranking of No. 4 this season and won his first Super Series title.

 

Griffioen and Kamiji reach women’s final

Defending women’s singles champion Griffioen wasted little time in earning her place in the final of the NEC Masters for the second successive year after a 6-2, 6-0 win over Great Britain’s world No. 7 Jordanne Whiley.

 

Having lost to Whiley for the first time in August, Griffioen has now won her last two matches against Whiley for the loss of just two games and goes into the final having dropped just one set so far. That came against 19-year-old Kamiji in their round-robin meeting, with Kamiji going on to finish runner-up to the Dutchwoman in Pool 2.

 

Kamiji had a much tougher semi-final against Dutch world No. 5 Marjolein Buis. After winning the first two games of the third and deciding set she saw Buis draw level again before finally taking the last two games for a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory. It was her second win from two matches against Buis this season and Kamiji has now emulated 14-time champion Esther Vergeer in reaching the final of the NEC Masters at her first attempt.

 

Kamiji goes in to Monday’s final against world No. 3 Griffioen with just one career win over Griffioen to date, which came in March 2012. Wednesday’s round-robin pool match was their only meeting to date this year.