Semifinalists decided in Rotterdam

For the second successive year the same four players will contest the men’s singles semifinals at the World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, a part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, which is taking place alongside the corresponding ATP Tour event in Rotterdam for the fourth year in a row.

World No. 1 Maikel Scheffers had a tough opening match, but came from 3-1 down in the second set of his contest against French world No. 4 Nicolas Peifer to win four games in succession en route to securing a 64 64 victory.

Top seed Scheffers lost to Stephane Houdet in the 2011 semifinals, but takes on defending champion and fellow Dutchman Ronald Vink in the last four this year after Vink made a strong opening to his title defence when he beat world No. 7 Stefan Olsson of Sweden 63 62.

Robin Ammerlaan, the third Dutchman to reach the semifinals, also gained a 63 62 victory as he knocked out Tom Egberink, while world No. 2 and last year’s runner-up Houdet eased through his all-French contest against Frederic Cattaneo 62 60.

With the men’s doubles being played out over the course of three sets of round-robin matches, the opening contests included a 61 26 62 victory for Houdet and Peifer over Cattaneo and Olsson.

Meanwhile, Australian Open champions Ammerlaan and Vink swept to a 62 60 win in their all-Dutch match against Egberink and Scheffers.

Ammerlaan and Vink will play Cattaneo and Olsson during Friday’s second day of play, with Houdet and Peifer taking on Egberink and Scheffers.