Alcott to meet Vink, Hewett-Reid secure calendar Grand Slam
Dylan Alcott remained on course for the Golden Slam after he defeated Koji Sugeno 6-2 6-1 to set up a US Open quad singles final against Dutchman Niels Vink.
It was Sugeno who held the early lead, breaking the world No.1 for 2-1 in the first set after some calm, clean hitting but Alcott broke straight back. The Australian raised his level and began to take control, playing quick points and putting Sugeno under pressure.
This increase in intensity saw double faults start to creep in for the Japanese player and his unforced error count increased. He won just one more game as Alcott eased to a convincing victory in one hour 31 minutes.
Standing in Alcott’s way of a historic Golden Slam is 18-year-old Vink, who overcame Andy Lapthorne 7-6(5) 6-1 to reach his first major final.
While it was a close first set, during which Lapthorne was arguably the better player, it was Vink who rose to the occasion in the most important moments. He reeled off five straight points from 2-5 down in the tiebreak to win the first set and never looked back, coming forward at the right time and executing his sliced backhand with aplomb to dominate the second set.
The first set lasted almost an hour whereas the second set was over in just 35 minutes as Vink found his game and proved too much for the Brit, who struggled with his second serve, particularly in the final set.
Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid overcame Shingo Kunieda and Gustavo Fernandez 6-2 6-1 to win the men’s wheelchair doubles title and become the first partnership to secure the calendar Grand Slam.
The top seeds produced a commanding display, moving well and striking the ball cleanly as they controlled the match. From 0-1 down in the first set, they won five games in a row to put themselves in the driving seat and the momentum remained with the British pair as the match progressed.
In the second set, Hewett and Reid protected their serve well and continued to put up an impressive defence, which the Japanese-Argentinian pairing struggled to penetrate. From 2-1 the Paralympic silver medallists reeled off four games on the trot to secured their fifth successive US Open title after 74 minutes.
“It's an amazing feeling [to win the calendar Grand Slam]. Something that has almost never been done in wheelchair tennis before. To do it together as a team is something we take a lot of pride0 in,” said Reid.
“(There’s a) little bit of regret we couldn't make it the Golden Slam. We were three points away from doing that. To come here and finish the year strongly together and go home with all four at the same time, it's a good feeling.”
Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot added the US Open women’s doubles title to the gold medal they won at the Tokyo Paralympics last week when they defeated 2020 champions Yui Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley 6-1 6-2 in the women’s wheelchair doubles final at Flushing Meadows.
“It’s always really amazing [to win a Grand Slam doubles title]. It’s such a special feeling. Today was really nice as there were a lot of crowds, lots of people were watching the match which is the good thing about playing right before the women’s final. It’s also such a special feeling to do it a week after winning Paralympic gold with Diede, it was a great week,” said van Koot.
Victory in the quad doubles final went to the Dutch pairing of Sam Schroder and Vink, who saw off a spirited challenge from top seeds Alcott and Heath Davidson 6-3 6-2 in a rematch of the Tokyo Paralympic gold medal match.
Schroder and Vink won eight out of nine points midway through the second set to put themselves in control against the four-time Australian Open champions and they completed their win in an hour and 13 minutes.
With Vink having ended Schroder’s quad singles title defence, he will now try and make it a memorable US Open debut as he attempts to topple Alcott for the first time.