Vergeer and Shuker Advance to Quarter-finals at British Open

21 Jul 2011 By IPC

World No. 1 Esther Vergeer (NED) and Britain’s top seed Lucy Shuker both advanced to the quarter-finals at the 22nd British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Nottingham, Great Britain.

Vergeer, who took her winning streak to 419 matches, beat South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday, 20 July, and still has her eleventh successive British Open title in sight. Britain’s Lucy Shuker follows Vergeer to the next round by beating compatriot Louise Hunt 6-1, 6-0. Another British Wheelchair Tennis player also advanced to the quarter-finals with Jordanne Whiley upsetting world No. 7 Annick Sevenans of Belgium 6-3, 6-2. Whiley will now face Esther Vergeer.

Sevenans was not the only seed to exit the women’s singles on Wednesday, with Japan’s Kanako Domori also defeating German eighth seed Katharina Kruger 6-4, 6-3.

The quarter-finals in the quad singles will see three British players with Peter Norfolk, Andrew Lapthorne and Jamie Burdekin winning their second round matches.

After a first round bye, two-time Paralympic champion and world No. 2 Norfolk, began his bid for a fifth British Open title by defeating fellow Briton John Parfitt 6-1, 6-0. Third seed Lapthorne secured a 6-4, 6-0 win over another former British Open champion, Bas van Erp of the Netherlands, and now takes on sixth seed Sarah Hunter of Canada as he bids to reach the British Open semi-finals for the first time. Along with Norfolk, seventh seed Burdekin also defeated another fellow Briton as he secured a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Antony Cotterill, with American world No. 6 Nick Taylor awaiting Burdekin in the last eight.

British interest in the men’s main draw singles came to an end on Wednesday after British No. 1 Gordon Reid slipped to a 4-6, 1-6 loss to Dutch world No. 6 Ronald Vink. Reid also lost to Vink in the quarter-finals of last year’s British Open and was unable to repeat his first career win over the Dutchman at last month’s French Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships.

Meanwhile, after reaching the men’s main draw singles second round at the British Open for the first time, British No. 3 Marc McCarroll also had his progress halted when he lost 1-6, 1-6 to Swedish sixth seed Stefan Olsson.

There was an upset in the men's singles as world No. 8 Satoshi Saida was knocked out by his compatriot Takashi Sanada. Sanada booked his place in the last eight of the men's singles after beating Saida 6-4, 7-6.

The doubles events began on Wednesday, with McCarroll and Reid progressing to the men’s doubles quarter-finals along with fellow Briton Alex Jewitt and his French partner Lahcen Majdi. Shuker and Whiley, third seeds for the women’ doubles, begin on Thursday, 21 July.

The 22nd British Open is supported by Nottingham City Council and Highland Spring and entry is free to all spectators throughout the tournament.