Stephane Houdet, Yui Kamiji and Sam Schroder were crowned men’s women’s and quad singles champions on Sunday at the 20^th Sardinia Open – Tavoni Trophy, part of the UNIQLO Weelchair Tennis Tour, with Houdet and Vink ending the ITF 1 Series event as singles and doubles champions.

Schroder’s rivalry with fellow Dutchman Niels Vink intensified as the world No. 5 reversed the outcome of their Open de L’Ile de Re quad singles final two weeks ago to earn a 6-1 6-4 victory in Alghero.

After the two singles finalists joined forces on Friday to claim the quad doubles title, Schroder raced through the first five games of the singles final before Vink finally got on the scoreboard.  

Sixteen-year-old second seed Vink kept pace with Schroder throughout the first eight games of the second set, but the top seed forced Vink into a series of errors to bring up three match points. Schroder only needed the first to wrap up victory as Vink’s final contribution was a forehand that sailed long over his opponent’s baseline.

Houdet make it five Sardinia Open titles on the bounce

With world No. 3 Houdet having beaten 2018 men’s singles finalist Gordon Reid in this year’s semifinals, the top seed made it five Sardinia Open titles in a row after he beat fellow Frenchman Nicolas Peifer in the title decider for the second time in three years.

Houdet took the first three and last three games of the opening set as he opened his title defence in style.

He proved even more dominant in the second set, building a 5-1 lead before a forehand drop shot and two crisp forehand winners set up 3 match points., with Peifer overhitting a backhand to complete Houdet’s 6-2 6-1 victory.

Houdet and Peifer later joined forces to take the men’s doubles final and deny US Open champions and second seeds Afie Hewett and Gordon Reid a third successive title. In the latest instalment between the Rio Paralympic finalists, top seeds Houdet and Peifer fought back from 3-1 down in the opening set and, despite seeing a 3-1 lead of their own disappear in the second set, held on for a 6-4 7-5 victory.

Kamiji wins third title in three weeks

World No. 2 Kamij completed a hat-trick of women’s singles titles on European soil in successive weeks as she repeated her three-set win over Aniek van Koot in the 2015 Sardinia Open final.

Kamiji’s fifth successive singles final since reaching the last four of July’s British Open saw the Japanese top seed and Open de L'Ile de Re and French Riviera Open champion dominate the early exchanges in Alghero against van Koot

Van Koot made a much better start to the second set, securing an early break to move 2-0 ahead, but the momentum shifted twice more before the second seed finally completed a run of four games to force a deciding set.

However, Kamiji re-established control in the third, moving into a 5-0 lead. Although van Koot dug deep to make it 5-1, a series of errors off the Dutchwoman’s racket ultimately proved her undoing and she missed the target with successive forehands to hand Kamiji a 6-1 3-6 6-1 victory.

But the women’s doubles final did end with a winners’ trophy for van Koot. Top seeds Michaela Spaanstra and van Koot claimed the spoils after beating fourth seeds Charlotte Famin and Hui Min Huang 6-4 6-3, securing a second all-Dutch victory following Schroder and Vink’s win in the quad doubles.