Dylan Alcott won the penultimate tournament of his playing career and his last tournament at Hume Tennis Centre in the northern suburbs of Melbourne as all three top seeds triumphed in the quad, men’s and women’s singles at the Victorian Open, with Shingo Kunieda and Yui Kamiji securing a Japanese double at the first tournament on the 2022 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.

All roads now lead to a bid for what could be Alcott’s eighth successive Australian Open title after he beat world No. 2 Sam Schroder 6-1 6-4 to lift his second Victorian Open quad singles crown.

As has become customary in recent years, the 30-year-old Melbourne native will sit out the upcoming Melbourne Open at Hume Tennis Centre as he focuses on broadcast commitments and training before his swan song at the first Grand Slam of the year.

Alcott took an hour and 27 minutes to defeat Schroder, missing two chances to serve out the opening set to love before Schroder missed the opportunity to capitalise on an early break in the second set. The two players had also met in the quad doubles final on the penultimate day of play, the re-match of the Tokyo 2020 gold medal match, ending with Alcott and Heath Davidson reversing their Tokyo defeat to beat Schroder and Niels Vink 6-7(3) 6-1 (10-4) after the deciding match tie-break.

World No. 1 Kunieda also made it back-to-back Victorian Open men’s singles titles after beating third seed Gordon Reid 6-1 6-2, reeling off six games in a row to take the opening set and denying Reid the two break point opportunities he earned early in the second set for what would have been a 2-0 lead.

While Kunieda eased through the men’s draw without dropping a set, world No. 4 Reid grew in strength as the tournament progressed, winning his first two matches in three sets before a more assured performance to win his semi-final against second seed Gustavo Fernandez 7-5 7-5.

Fifteen-year-old Tokito Oda made the early headlines in the men’s singles. Oda, who has Grand ambitions to win three Paralympic gold medals in a row, a feat that would surpass even the great Kunieda, ended 2021 at a career-best world No. 10 in the men’s rankings. And he began his first ever visit to Australia with his latest win over a top 10 player, defeating Tokyo silver medallist and world No. 7 Tom Egberink 6-3 6-3 before taking Reid to a deciding set.

The men’s doubles brought a welcome return to the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour and a title for Joachim Gerard. The Belgian, playing his first tournament since being taken ill at the Tokyo Paralympics, teamed up with Frenchman Stephane Houdet to beat Martin de la Puente and Fernandez 6-3 4-6 (12-10) in the final.

Houdet ended Gerard’s singles campaign in the opening round, but the world No. 5 and reigning Australian Open champion will now aim to gather some momentum on the singles court as he sets about trying to retain his title at the Melbourne Open, which has Super Series status for the first time in 2022.

While Kunieda powered to the men’s singles title, Kamiji made the most of the absence of world No. 1 Diede de Groot to go one better than last year at the Victorian Open, emulating Kunieda by also winning the women’s singles without dropping a set.

In total, the world No. 2 dropped just eight games throughout her three matches, defeating Chinese world No. 7 Zhenzhen Zhu 6-1 6-1 in the final after dropping the opening game to Zhu in both sets. Zhu’s run to the title decider saw her level her career head-to-head against South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane at two wins apiece after winning their semi-final 6-4 6-3.

Like Alcott, Kamiji ended the Victorian Open as both singles and doubles champion. Having beaten her 21-year-old countrywoman Shiori Funamizu 6-1 6-1 in her opening singles match, Kamiji partnered Funamizu to the women’s doubles title, the Japanese duo beating top seeds Dana Mathewson and Montjane in the semis before overcoming second seeds Lucy Shuker and Manami Tanaka 6-0 6-4.

The players now look ahead to the Melbourne Open Super Series, which takes place from 15-19 January.