Gerard eyes Rotterdam title after maiden Grand Slam win
Recently crowned Australian Open champion Joachim Gerard bids to secure another career first this week as one of the 12 players who line for the 13th ABN AMRO World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
Off the back of his first career Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne, Gerard is among the leading names contesting one of the annual features on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour calendar to take place in conjunction with an ATP or WTA Tour event.
It’s a tournament where Gerard has finished runner-up twice previously, having contested the 2015 final against Gustavo Fernandez and the 2019 final against Stephane Houdet.
Eight of the world’s top 10 men among the 12-strong field this year, with seven of the 2021 players having reached the singles final in Rotterdam over the last 12 years. Current world No. 6 Houdet booked his place in the first four finals between 2009 and 2012, the evergreen Frenchman winning the first of his two titles in 2010.
Houdet has reached a total of six singles finals since the inaugural tournament in 2009, while four of the last five editions have featured British players. Gordon Reid won back-to-back singles titles in 2016 and 2017 before finishing runner-up to reigning champion Alfie Hewett in 2020, the tournament’s first all-British final.
Hewett arrives for his title defence having earned his place in two singles finals in Australia – at the Victorian Open, the first event of the year on the 2021 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, before his epic final against Gerard at the Australian Open.
World No. 4 Gerard is seeking a third successive men’s singles title, having beaten world No. 2 Fernandez in the final of the Melbourne Open, the second of the two lead-in tournaments ahead of the Australian Open, where he also defeated world No. 3 Hewett in the semifinals.
With such talent on show, an enthralling four days of competition are guaranteed in Rotterdam, where Hewett and Reid also look to defend their doubles title amid strong opposition from the likes of three-time champions Houdet and Nicolas Peifer.
Peifer and Tom Egberink contest what could potentially be the pick of the four matches on Thursday’s opening day of competition.
World No.7 and 2017 finalist Peifer plays world No.8 Egberink, one of three Dutchmen in this year’s field, in the last match scheduled on the first day of play. The winner will earn a quarterfinal against reigning champion Hewett.
World No.17 Ruben Spaargaren opens the Dutch challenge when the 21-year-old faces Houdet in the second match of the day,
Spain’s two-time quarterfinalist Martin de la Puente faces Japan’s Takashi Sanada in the first match of this year’s ITF 1 Series event, with Sanada looking to secure his first singles match win on his third visit to Rotterdam.
The third of Thursday’s matches will see 2013 finalist Maikel Scheffers take on Belgium’s Jef Vandorpe as 19-year-old Vandorpe begins his third successive challenge in Rotterdam.
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