“It means a lot of things. I’m so, so happy. I’m excited for Sunday.”

That was Tokito Oda’s arguably understated but immediate reaction to what is undeniably one of the most impressive debuts in the history of the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters after the 16-year-old world No.5 beat four-time champion Joachim Gerard 6-3 5-7 6-4 in Friday’s men’s singles semi-finals in Oss.

Oda will now go on and face defending champion Alfie Hewett for the second time this week in the Netherlands in an encounter that could end with Oda succeeding Hewett as not only Masters champion, but also as the youngest winner of the year-end championships in the event’s 28-year history.

Hewett was 19 when he won the title on his second Singles Masters appearance in 2017 and, having beaten Oda 6-2 7-5 in the opening set of round-robin group matches this year, he will attempt to do so again after being awarded a walkover in his scheduled semi-final against Shingo Kunieda, who withdrew due to injury.

“I’m delighted to make it through to another Singles Masters final. I’m disappointed not to get the chance to play Shingo today,” said Masters top seed Hewett, who is now set to lose his world No.1 ranking to Kunieda after the second seed reached the last four of this year’s tournament after missing the 2021 event.

“I had a word with him afterwards and it sounds like he’s been struggling with an elbow injury for a few weeks now, so it was one match too far for him to play today.,” added Hewett. “You never want to see it and I wish him all the very best for his recovery over the coming weeks and months and hopefully he’ll be ready to go for the new year

“Personally, it’s been a tough week. It’s one of those events where you never can’t predict who’s going to come out firing. Obviously, you play three very intense singles matches in the group stage and playing the very best in the world so to come through without dropping a set is a reflection of my level at the moment and where I’m at as a tennis player. I’ve had some really positive results this week. Tokito was a difficult match (in the round-robin group). He’s an up-and-coming star of the future and so is Martin de la Puente. I can now rest up for a day or two before the final. One more match to go and I’m looking forward to it.”

Hewett’s round-robin group win over Oda was his third straight sets win of the year over the world No. 1 ranked junior, but Oda went into his semi-final against Gerard having lost their previous two matches in straight sets and is likely to take great confidence from his last four contest.

Oda gained the first break of the match to earn a 3-1 lead, but saw his advantage disappear two games later, only to then serve out the first set to love after another change in momentum.

Gerard saved four break points in the 11th game of the second set to continue a long sequence of service holds, but when his own opportunity to break came in the 12th game he made no mistake with a perfectly measured forehand smash.

But ultimately Oda’s blend of controlled aggression and pinpoint accuracy won the day in the final set as he built a 5-3 lead and drew one final error from Gerard’s racket after two hours and eight minutes.

Women’s and quad singles finals take on a familiar look

Oda goes into Sunday’s Singles Masters final exactly four weeks on from taking Kunieda to a final set tie-break for the first time in front of 7000 fans at the Rakuten Japan Open and another large crowd is expected at the Sportcentrum De Rusheuvel for Sunday’s Singles Masters finals.

There will be plenty for the local fans to enjoy, with three Dutch players across the quad singles and women’s singles finals for the second year in a row, as Niels Vink takes on Sam Schroder and Diede de Groot faces Yui Kamiji in two title deciders featuring the world’s top two ranked players.

World No. 2 Schroder was not slow to admit his satisfaction after beating Donald Ramphadi 6-1 6-1 in just 46 minutes in the quad singles semi-finals.

“It was a great match. I don’t think he really had a chance today, I was just too good,” said Schroder after stretching his unbeaten record against the South African world No. 6 to eight matches. “I didn't really expect that, because it's always really difficult against Donald, as he can really match my pace. These past few weeks we have been training and working on some stuff and today we saw the results of that work, so I’m very happy.”

While he’s played eight career singles matches against Ramphadi, Schroder joked that he was now set to play his countryman and doubles partner Vink ‘for probably the 20th time this year’. In actual fact, the quad single final will be their 19th career meeting and their eighth this season, with all but one of those contests coming in a final.

“It's all sold out, so there's going to be a lot of Dutch fans and friends and family to watch, so I’m really looking forward to it,” added Schroder, who has beaten Vink three times this season. But he hopes to redress the balance in Oss, where is competing in a new tennis chair.

“My old add chair got bent up at a tournament in March, so I finally got my new chair a couple of weeks ago. There's a big difference in the balance and how quickly I can turn. I also notice that I can respond to balls quicker and I feel like I can accelerate better, so it's a very big difference for me.”

While De Groot and Kamiji will contest the Singles Masters women’s final for the fifth successive time since De Groot won the first of her four title at the year-end championship in 2017, for 2013 champion Kamiji it will be her sixth successive Masters final after also losing out to Jiske Griffioen in 2016.

Griffioen and De Groot went head-to-head in this year’s semi-finals, with former world No. 1 Griffioen going into the contest with a 5-1 lead over current world No.1 De Groot, but the fact that their previous career matches had all come before January 2017, when De Groot was still to reach the peak of her powers, was maybe reflected in their latest contest as De Groot eased into Sunday’s final 6-2 6-0.

“I'm very happy with my performance, especially because in the past Jiske and I have had very, very great battles and this one, it was the first one, internationally, for Jiske after her comeback (in 2019). So I’m really happy to have a very high level today," said De Groot.

“I liked having a lot of people to come and watch today, both my parents were here and also some sponsors. I'm just happy that I had the opportunity to invite people and for them to come and see me, because it's much different watching in person to watching on the live stream.

“I'm happy with how it went and that everyone got to watch me. Even more people that I know have told me that they have tickets and are coming on Sunday so I'm very excited.”

Both women’s semi-finals ended with the same scores as the two quad singles semi-finals after Kamiji beat her countrywoman Momoko Ohtani 6-1 6-1.

De Groot and Kamiji will now play each other for the 48th time and for the seventh time this season. When Kamiji took De Groot to three sets in the final of September’s US Open it was their first head-to-head to go to a decider since the final of the 2021 NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters final.