Confidence the key for Fernandez as he downs Masters champion Oda
After early season health and injury concerns, Gustavo Fernandez is ending 2023 on a high and things could get even better still for the 29-year-old world No.3 after he booked his place in just his second NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters final.
“It means a lot because, personally, it’s been a rough year and this time I played very strong,” said Fernandez after securing just his second career win over 17-year-old top seed Tokito Oda.
The Argentinian’s 6-1 2-6 7-5 semi-final win in Barcelona was his first victory over the defending Masters champion since their first meeting in France in May 2022. In between both wins for Fernandez, Oda had beaten the Argentinian five times in a row, including four times this year.
“Tokito and Alfie (Hewett) have been the players of the year and to be able to beat Alfie last week (in the Catalonia Open final) and Tokito today, it’s very important to me because I struggled a lot with health and I kept going and kept going and kept working and trusting in myself and in my team and so I’m very happy,” Fernandez elaborated.
A second Singles Masters final in three years is the reward for Fernandez. On Sunday he will play Hewett for the final time this year, his semi-final win over Oda having already guaranteed Hewett’s return to the world No.1 spot when the new rankings are published next week.
“Today it was a very tough match with very tough conditions and I’m very happy that I ended up pulling it out,” added Fernandez, who played a dominant first set before Oda forced his way back into the match and opened up a 4-1 lead in the final set. For Fernandez, there was one key factor behind winning six of the last seven games.
“Confidence … confidence in myself because I thought that I was playing really good, but I doubted my level a little bit. He’s an amazing player and he took his chances, but I was thinking that even though the score was not in my favour (in the final set) I was still playing well.
“The process of building the confidence is really a day-by day thing. it’s so easy to lose confidence and it takes a lot to build it back up, so when you are able to hold on to that confidence it is very important. I am very proud.”
Having beaten Hewett for the first time this season when they met in the Catalonia Open final one week ago, Fernandez has since lost to the two-time Masters champion, in their round-robin group this week, but he’s naturally looking forward to the opportunity to try and secure his first Singles Masters title.
“I feel like I’m playing good tennis,” he said. “Of course, Alfie has been dominating the year. We’ve played a few times (this season) and I think it’s going to be a battle, so I need to be ready for it and I have to try and stay confident and doing my thing and give it 200 percent.”
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Saturday’s ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters finals will provide an intriguing preamble to Sunday’s Singles Masters finals, as Hewett and Fernandez will also meet in the men’s doubles final in Barcelona.
Second seeds Fernandez and Martin de la Puente will bid to retain their Doubles Masters title when they take on top seeds Hewett and Gordon Reid after the reigning champions ended the fifth day of play with 2-6, 6-2 (10-5) victory over French duo Frederic Cattaneo and Stephane Houdet.
Sunday’s women’s singles and quad singles finals will have a familiar look to them. Five-time defending champion Diede de Groot and world No. 2 Yui Kamiji both came through their women’s semi-finals in straight sets, while Niels Vink and Sam Schroder also prevailed in straight sets to book their places to face each other in the quad singles final for the third year in a row.