Photo: Steve Wake / Professional SportStefan Olsson and Peter Vikstrom (SWE)
LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN: Today provided the first glimpse of the top four seeds in the men’s doubles competition. Defending champions and number one seeds Stephane Houdet and Michael Jeremiasz made a strong start to their medal bid with a win over British pair Alex Jewitt and David Phillipson.
Houdet and Jeremiasz dominated the match from the beginning with the French taking control of the points and displaying some strong net play. During the second set the British pair started a comeback, breaking the French pair’s serve for the first time but the French were too strong winning the match 6-0 6-2.
“We played quality tennis which is what wins matches” Jeremiasz said who was pleased to have a bye in the first round. “It’s always good to enter a tournament in this way”. They will now face the Japanes pair of Shingo Kunieda and Satoshi Saida, the Bronze medallists from Beijing, who came through 6-2 6-3 against the young Australians Adam Kellerman and Ben Weekes.
Number two seeds Robin Ammerlaan and Ronald Vink also set their precedence in the competition with a 6-3 6-0 win over Brazilians Mauricio Pomme and Carlos Santos. Another Dutch partnership of Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers displayed why they, as the number three seeds, are progressing through to the next round 6-3 6-2 against Ha-Gel Lee and Sang-Ho Oh. Speaking following the match Scheffers said “a really good start today. Not our best day but in the quarter finals and that is the important thing”.
The number three seeds have lined up a meeting with silver medallists from Beijing Stefan Olsson and Peter Vikstrom. They stormed through their match against the Spanish pair of Daniel Caverzaschi and Francesc Tur 6-1 6-0 with a strong display of serving. Olsson was pleased with the way the pair played but commented that he “found the speed a little hard to juggle at first”.
Nicholas Peifer and Frederic Cattaneo complete the French-Dutch rivalry in the men’s doubles beating the experienced pair of Martin Legner and Thomas Mossier. They only need 18 minutes to take the first set 6-0, not dropping a since point when they were serving in the first set. They will now play the British pair of Gordon Reid and Mark McCarroll. McCarroll and Reid are the only British left in the men’s doubles after a 6-4 6-3 win against Mike Denayer and Joachim Gerard from Belgium.
Follow the scores from the Paralympic Tennis Event on the Schedule page.