Fernandez eyes first Masters final as he 'improves each day'
While Gustavo Fernandez has two ITF World Champions trophies to his name, among the few major accolades missing for Argentina’s five-time Grand Slam singles and two-time Grand doubles champion is a winner’s trophy from the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters.
However, that may all change this year in Orlando, with the current world No.4 once again through to the Singles Masters semi-finals alongside Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid and Stephane Houdet.
Fernandez plays world No.5 Reid in Friday’s scheduled men’s semi-finals at the USTA National Campus and while Reid has also never won the Singles Masters, he has previously reached the final – something that Fernandez has yet to do.
However, having spent the entire second day of this year’s tournament in bed due to suspected food poisoning, Fernandez has been feeling stronger and stronger with each passing day, beating Tom Egberink 6-1 6-3 to complete his round-robin group unbeaten in his three matches after dropping just one set to Houdet.
“I was physically worn out, energy-wise. Mentally I was great, but my body wasn’t able to hold myself, so I was in bed all Monday and I could not eat or drink the whole day,” Fernandez said as he recalled his difficult start to the week.
“Luckily I was able to recover for my match against Stephane (Houdet). I was not 100 per cent, physically, but I was the best I could be and I pulled that out. It was a very important match in the pool, so to be able to hold on for those couple of days, it lifted my energy levels and my confidence and now I feel great.”
Fernandez had already beaten Takuya Miki 6-4 6-1 in his opening singles match before being taken ill, but then came out to defeat 2011 Masters champion Houdet 6-7(2) 6-4 6-2 before his straight sets win over Egberink
“It was a peculiar match because I was already quailed (for the semi-finals) and he was already disqualified, so I had to find way to put pressure on me to bring the best out of me on every point, so I took it as a challenge,” said Fernandez of his match against Tokyo Paralympic silver medallist Egberink.
“I always like to play against him, he is the silver medallist, but it is important to bring the best out of me in every game and I found every excuse I could today to do it and I played a great match.”
“I’ve always come to this part of the year with the enthusiasm to try and win (the Masters), but while I’ve played great in the last couple of Masters, in the semis I’ve always played someone who, that day, played better than me and they deserved it more than I did. It is the most important tournament of the year, including with the Grand Slams, so I’m really looking forward to the semi-finals and looking forward to playing my best because I’ve prepared very well for this tournament.”
Fernandez describes this year’s Australian Open as ‘probably my worst tournament of the last 10 years’ but believes that his tennis has got steadily better throughout the year.
“This year I didn’t have very big wins, but I played great tennis, so I’ll just keep trying to push my level up and getting better and better every day and keeping trying to bring the best out of me,” he added. “I’ll try and go step-by-step and I’m really happy that I’m in the semi-finals.
A three-set win for Reid in their quarter-final at Melbourne Park was the first of five victories for the Briton over Fernandez this season and he will aim to make it six from six in Orlando after beating Spain’s Martin de la Puente 6-3 6-3 in his final group match, progressing to the last four with just a three-set loss to Hewett on his record for the week.
Reid’s only previous Singles Masters match against Hewett was in the 2017 final, but a repeat of that title decider could very well be on the cards in Orlando, with Hewett taking an eight-match winning streak into his semi-final against Houdet after the top seed beat Houdet’s fellow Frenchman Nicolas Peifer 6-4, 6-0 in his final round-robin match.
Meanwhile, 10 years after winning the year-end championship, Houdet cemented his place in another semi-final after beating Miki 6-1 6-1.
Ohtani victory guarantees Netherlands-Japan women’s final
There are few certainties in sport, as in life, but what is certain is that Sunday’s women’s final in Orlando will be contested by a Dutch player and a Japanese player, with Momoko Ohtani playing Yui Kamiji in the semi-finals, while top seed Diede de Groot will continue her bid for a fourth successive Masters title when she takes on world No. 3 Aniek van Koot.
After well over three hours of enthralling tennis, Momoko Ohtani ensured that her NEC Singles Masters debut would be a memorable one as she outlasted Dana Mathewson 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-3 to book her place in the women’s last four.
For Mathewson, playing at her home training venue at the USTA National Campus, it had already been a memorable, if long, few days after she took world No.1 De Groot to three sets before another three-set encounter against Kgothatso Montjane.
However, her match against Ohtani was gruelling, as Ohtani took the opening set, only for the American to convert her third set point and force the decider. But a break at the start of the final set was enough of a cushion for the Japanese world No. 6 to build on, leaving the 26-year-old as runner-up in Group A behind De Groot and Mathewson without a win after three incredibly close contests.
Kamiji relinquished a 2-0 lead at the the start of the second set in her final Group B round-robin match against Chinese Zhenzhen Zhu, but soon regained control to close out a 6-2 6-2 win. She will now face Ohtani for the first time since Ohtani won their Wimbledon quarter-final in July and for only the second time since they both contested the first all-Japanese women’s wheelchair Grand Slam final at Roland Garros in 2020.
Ohtani beat De Groot in the semi-finals in Paris on that occasion, but with De Groot’s only loss so far in 2021 coming against Kamiji in Australia in February, the world No. 1 comfortably extended her winning sequence for the year to finish top of her group after beating fellow Wimbledon finalist Montjane 6-0 6-4.
As Ohtani and Mathewson were starting their second set, Van Koot was wrapping up her final Group B contest against Macarena Cabrillana, beating the Chilean Masters debutante 6-2 6-0.