Fourth grass-court title for De Groot after she seals Eastbourne win

Diede de Groot will head to Wimbledon next week with just one loss in 15 matches on grass after the world No.1 wrapped up the inaugural UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour women’s wheelchair singles title at the Rothesay International Eastbourne on Saturday.

De Groot’s victory came on the final day of a trio of ITF 2 British Grass Court Wheelchair Tennis Tournament draws organised by the LTA across a two-week period, with Joachim Gerard and Andy Lapthorne having previously won the men’s singles title at The Queen’s Club and the quad singles title at the Edgbaston Priory Club, respectively.  

After making her grass court debut for 2022 with a 6-0 6-0 win over Cornelia Oosthuizen, De Groot faced a semi-final against Kgothatso Montjane, the rematch of last year’s Wimbledon final ending 6-2 6-2 in De Groot’s favour.

Given that De Groot and world No.2 Yui Kamiji have now met on 41 occasions, Saturday’s singles final in Eastbourne was, notably, their first meeting on grass and it was a contest in which a marathon sixth game arguably proved pivotal to the outcome of the first set.  

Kamiji arrived in Eastbourne having won the equivalent ITF 2 women’s title at the Birmingham Classic last year. But after eventually relinquishing the sixth game of this year’s final, the Japanese second seed ultimately found De Groot’s firepower too much and the Dutchwoman’s 6-3 6-2 win extended her current winning streak to 52 matches since losing out to Kamiji in the final of the Melbourne Open in February 2021.  

“I actually think it was a very good match from both sides, especially the first set,” said De Groot after sealing her 12th successive win over Kamiji for her sixth singles title of 2022. “For wheelchair tennis players, it’s very difficult to hold your serve. It’s actually a disadvantage to be serving. There were very few breaks in that set, which is very impressive and shows that there was a good level. There was one game at 3-2 which was longer than the rest of the match itself. I think, for me, it was very good to get through that.

“Everything you need to get back into grass again, we’ve had it. There were slices, good serves and there was some wind today. All of the things that can happen at Wimbledon, we’ve gone through, so that’s very nice for a warm-up.”

With the world’s top men’s wheelchair players having played alongside some of the top ATP Tour players in Rotterdam in February before recently heading to The Queen’s Club, De Groot was also happy to be playing again at a tournament integrated into a larger event.

“For us, it’s very special. This is the only wheelchair event outside of Wimbledon for the women that is combined with the WTA and ATP,” said the three-time Wimbledon champion. “For us, it’s so special to have so many people come and watch. To feel integrated, to feel part of the whole thing. It’s very important to grow the sport.”

While Kamiji’s singles final against De Groot was their first meeting on a grass court, Kamiji chalked up another career-first in the women’s doubles.

With De Groot not playing doubles and top seeds Kamiji and Chinese No. 1 Zhenzhen Zhu therefore having a bye through to the final, the scratch partnership suggested that there may be more to come in the future after they won all the big points during some highly competitive games to defeat 2021 Wimbledon finalists Kgothatso Montjane and Lucy Shuker 6-1 6-1.