As a four-time NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters champion and four-time ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters champion, the winner of 16-time Grand Slam singles and 15-time Grand Slam doubles titles and the first women’s wheelchair tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam, there are very few things in wheelchair tennis that are new to Diede de Groot. However, playing the Singles Masters on home soil in the Netherlands is one of them.

“It's very special for me. I have been looking forward to it a lot. I can invite family and I get to play in my home country. Especially a tournament like this, it's very special to have this opportunity,” said world No.1 De Groot after defeating Kgothatso Montjane 6-2 6-3 in her second women’s singles Group A match and all but book her place in the semi-finals.  

“At the same time, there's so many more people asking me any sorts of questions and I'm so much more busy with things outside the courts, so it's an interesting experience. I'm looking forward to this weekend because I think it's going to be very busy.”

After starting her title defence on Sunday by securing her 70th match win in a row with a 6-1 6-1 win, De Groot’s performance against Montjane was not without its stutters, especially on serve, but she insists she is working her way into the tournament.

“I think it was a little bit up and down. When I was in the rally, I managed to make it go my way, but especially getting into the rally, some returns and serves weren't on point yet. But it's only the second round (in the group) and I still have a round left,” she said. I think focus is really key, just try not to have too many unforced errors and then I'll be alright.”

Momoko Ohtani, one of two Japanese players to have beaten De Groot since the start of 2020 and the player the top seed beat to bring up her 70th win in her current winning streak, ended the third day of competition having also registered a win in Group A after defeating Zhenzhen Zhu 6-3 6-1.

Group B, which features three former Masters champions and three previous world No.1 players, is also going to plan for second seed Yui Kamiji, who defeated day one winner Jiske Griffioen 6-4 6-2 ahead of Thursday's third day of women's round-robin matches.

Hewett overcomes Oda challenge after seven match points

In 2017 Alfie Hewett made history when, as a 19-year-old, he became the youngest player to win the men’s title at the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters. However, Hewett’s record could be under threat in the near future, if not this year, after 16-year-old Tolkito Oda gave the current world No. 1 more than just a few problems in their second round-robin Group A match.

Hewett ultimately won 6-2 7-5 to ensure his place in Friday’s semi-finals, but after a first set that was much closer than the score suggests, Hewett was constantly threatened in the second set and needed seven match points before wrapping up victory.

“I’m obviously really happy to get through the match today,” said Hewett. “You have to take each match as it comes and really perform on the day because if you drop one set or a match, even, that can be the difference between making it through to the semi-finals or not getting out of the group.

“I felt like I had a difficult task to compete against Oda today. He played a very high level of tennis and he's definitely improving. He's a young talent that’s up and coming, so to keep the match to straight sets is something I’m really happy about,” added Hewett. “Today I was fortunate to maybe use some of my experience, but he will learn, over time, those key areas. For now, I’ve got to hang on to what I've got. It's different when you're 24 or 25 and defending a title compared to when you're 16 or 17 and coming through, because you don't have that same level of pressure.”

Oda will now play Martin de la Puente in his third and last Group A match after the Spaniard, who lost all three of his round-robin matches in straight sets when making his Singles Masters debut in 2021, finished strongly to beat Takuya Miki 5-7 6-1 6-1.

Joachim Gerard continued his fine run of form as the four-time Masters champion followed up his victory over world No. 2 Shingo Kunieda by defeating world No. 3 Gustavo Fernandez 6-2 6-3 to book his passage to the semi-finals ahead of facing Tom Egberink in the final set of Group B matches. In a rematch of last year’s Tokyo 2020 men’s singles final, Egberink suffered his second successive loss in Oss as Kunieda got his title challenge back on track with a 6-3 6-2 win over the Dutchman.

First doubles semi-finalists decided

If Hewett needed any more evidence as to how well Oda is developing as a player, he definitely got it in the second round of group matches in the men’s doubles.

The first-time partnership of Ben Bartram and Oda stunned second seeds Hewett and Maikel Scheffers 6-2 1-6 (10-6) to end the second seeds’ unbeaten sequence of 10 match wins during which they’ve collected three titles together. Bartram and Oda are now guaranteed to progress to the doubles semi-finals before the completion of the group matches on Wednesday’s fourth day of play when Daisuke Arai and Kouhei Suzuki will play Hewett and Scheffers to decide the other semi-final partnership from Group B.

Three of the four men’s doubles group matches on the day were decided in match tie-breaks, as Dutch duo Tom Egberink and Ruben Spaargaren booked their place in the semi-finals in Group A after beating top seeds Martin de le Puente and Gustavo Fernandez.

Top seeds Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot and the partnership of Macarena Cabrillana and Maria Florencia Moreno have both beaten Katharina Kruger and Pauline Deroulede in women’s Group A and will therefore advance to the semi-finals after playing each other in their last group contest to decide the top two placings.

Unbeaten in both of their Group B matches, Jiske Griffioen and Momoko Ohtani will advance to the semi-finals along with the winner of the remaining contest between second seeds Yui Kamiji and Kgothatso Montjane and Lucy Shuker and Zhenzhen Zhu.

With just three of the original four partnerships remaining in the title hunt in the quad doubles, top seeds and defending champions Sam Schroder and Niels Vink won the latest group contest against Heath Davidson and Robert Shaw 6-3 6-1 with the finalists to be decided after the last round-robin match in two days’ time.

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