De Groot, Fernandez and Schroder wrap up French Riviera Open titles
Diede de Groot secured her first ITF Super Series singles title for almost 16 months as she joined men’s singles champion Gustavo Fernandez and quad singles champion Sam Schroder in wrapping up memorable victories at the 2025 French Riviera Open in Biot, near Nice.
Ranked No.7 this week following her victory in Biot, De Groot returns to the women’s singles top 10 for the fourth time since mid-July, when she dropped to No.11, where she had spent much of the last three months due to ranking points lost during her eight months out of competition due to hip surgery and subsequent rehab.
Not for the first time since her return to competition in early May, the former world No.1 reiterated at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy that this season was ‘all about finding my groove, getting back into it and finding my rhythm for next year’.
It’s far to say that that process is progressing well after De Groot beat current world No.1 Yui Kamiji for the first time since the last French Riviera Open in June 2024, De Groot’s 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 semi-final victory preparing her for another arguably stronger performance in the final as she defeated world No.2 Aniek van Koot 6-2 6-0 in 53 minutes.
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That meant that De Groot wrapped up her fifth successive French Riviera Open title – having beaten Kamiji in the previous four finals – for the loss of just two games in three sets of tennis against the current top two ranked players in the world.
Kamiji, who had survived a scare against Lizzy de Greef in the singles quarter-finals, had the comparative satisfaction of ending the tournament with the women’s doubles title, having partnered Zhu Zhenzhen to edge out De Groot and Jiske Griffioen 1-6 6-2 (10-8) in the final.
Kamij and Zhu have now reached the final of every doubles draw they’ve played together, their sixth tournament as a partnership bringing their fourth title and second Super Series crown together following their victory in the 2023 Melbourne Open.
Fernandez seals second French Riviera Open title
A fascinating men’s singles draw saw the demise of top seed Martin de la Puente and third seed Gordon Reid in the quarter-finals as Ruben Spaargaren and Takuya Miki advanced after two close three-set battles, with Miki defeating Reid for the first time in 23 career matches.
But, come the final, hopes of a home winner of the French Riviera Open title shone bright when Stephane Houdet took the opening set against second seed Gustavo Fernandez 6-0 and then came from 2-0 down to lead the second set 3-2, much to the delight of the local brass band adding to the festive atmosphere in the stands. However, contesting his first Super Series singles final since 2019, Houdet’s hopes started to fade after 10 games of the second set.
Having won just 11 points in the opening set. Fernandez limited Houdet to just 12 points in the decider as he surpassed Houdet’s total points won in the final game of the match to eventually prevail 0-6 7-5 6-0 in an hour and 38 minutes.
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While De Groot’s women’s singles victory brought her first Super Series singles title since the 2024 French Riviera Open, Fernandez’s success earned the Argentinian his first Super Series singles title since he won on the clay courts in Biot in 2023. With this year’s French Riviera Open entering a new era on the venue’s hard courts, Fernandez has now amassed three hard court titles in a season for the first time since 2019 and returns to world No. 3 in the men's rankings for the first time since July 2024.
As with Kamiji, a loss in singles was countered by victory in doubles after second seeds Houdet and Dani Caverzaschi held on to beat top seeds De la Puente and Spaargaren 3-6 6-3 (10-7), giving the victors theit third men’s doubles title of 2025 and their second at Super Series level.
Schroder regains French Riviera Open quad title
The French Riviera Open was the only one of the four Super Series quad singles titles on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour that Sam Schroder did not win in 2024, but the world No. 2 returned to winning ways in Biot this year as he claimed his third title at the Mouratoglou Academy since 2018 and his second Super Series in Biot since 2022.
In doing so, Schroder dethroned 2024 champion Guy Sasson in the final, but there was plenty to note on court before then as just the top two of the four seeds reached the semi-finals.
Franscisco Cayulef beat fourth seed Andy Lapthorne in the last eight, while third seed Ahmet Kaplan had made his exit in the first round after a 3-6 6-3 6-2 loss to 16-year-old Jin Woodman.
Woodman’s list of singles titles this season reads something like the blueprint for development that any young player would be proud of over two or three seasons, but from starting his season with a junior boys’ title at an ITF Futures in his native Australia, Woodman has gone on to add senior ITF 3, ITF 2 and IITF 1 Series singles titles, the ITF 2 and ITF 1 titles coming back-to-back at the Toyota Open International de L'Ile de Re and the Sardinia Open in the second half of September.
Woodman extended his winning streak to nine matches after beating Kaplan and Greg Slade in Biot, but his recent success came to an end in the semi-finals at the French Rivera Open as Sasson eased to a 6-0 6-1 win to keep his title defence alive – that is, until he came up against Schroder.
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After two losses to Sasson earlier this season and three successive three-set contests, Schroder had much the better of things in Biot as the Australian Open champion recorded his third title of the season 6-1 6-3 after just 56 minutes.
The quad doubles brought a first title together for the Anglo-Australian partnership of Heath Davidson and Lapthorne as both players gained some recompense for successive losses to Cayulef in the singles draw, with Davidson and Lapthorne beating Cayulef and Gonzalo Lazarte 6-4 6-2 to earn Lapthorne his second successive doubles title in Biot.
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