Kamiji and Reid seal grass court titles in Britain
Yui Kamiji and Gordon Reid triumphed at the Viking Classic Birmingham and the cinch Championships at The Queen’s Club in London as women’s and men’s wheelchair tournaments took place simultaneously for the first time as part of an expanded grass court calendar on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
With Roland Garros the middle leg of three recent clay court tournaments in France, Kamiji boosted her preparations for the next major at Wimbledon as she ended a three-match losing streak against Aniek van Koot on grass to make history in Birmingham. The tournament was the first women’s grass court wheelchair ranking tournament outside of The Championships.
Victory would be hard-earned for the Japanese world No. 2 and top seed, who was taken deep into a third set for the second time in three weeks by Jordanne Whiley before coming through their semi-final 6-1 5-7 7-5.
Kamiji then had to save match points in the third set-tiebreak of the final against world No. 3 Van Koot, who had previously won one quarter-final and two semi-finals against Kamiji in three Wimbledon head-to-heads since 2016. However, save them she did and Kamiji ultimately emerged with her first grass court title 6-1 1-6 7-6(6).
“It was very tough and she (Van Koot) is a very good slicer, so it was very difficult to win the points,” said Kamiji. ”I tried many things, so I’m happy with my performance today and, of course, it’s a good stepping-stone going into Wimbledon.”
Kamiji later partnered Whiley to their 22nd career doubles title together after the four-time Wimbledon champions beat Kgothatso Montjane and Van Koot 6-3 6-3.
Whiley was born in Birmingham 29 years ago and her childhood family home is just 20 minutes from the venue of the long-established WTA Tour event that hosted this year’s wheelchair tournament. To win a title on her first UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour appearance in her home down was a proud moment.
“I’ve never played a tournament in Birmingham before, so it’s nice to be back home," she said. "I feel like this is really good prep for Wimbledon. I don’t feel like I played that well today, if I’m honest, but it’s a massive confidence boost because we got the win.
“In the singles I put up a good fight, because at Roland Garros a couple of weeks ago I lost 6-2 6-1 to Yui. So it’s a big confidence booster, and I’m just looking forward to Wimbledon now.”
Clinical Reid beats fellow Wimbledon champion Fernandez
It may be a myth, but British humour would have us believe that the start of the grass court tennis season is bound to bring the onset of rain. That’s exactly what happened for the wheelchair players in Birmingham and London, with no play possible on the grass courts at either venue on the first of three scheduled days of competition.
With singles quarter-finals and semi-finals therefore taking place on the same day, 2016 Wimbledon champion Reid and Gustavo Fernandez, the 2019 Wimbledon champion, had very different routes to the last four at the cinch Championships.
Reid benefitted from a walkover as Alfie Hewett, the 2019 champion at The Queen’s Club and the recent winner of back-to-back Grand Slam and Super Series clay court titles in France, was a late withdrawal due to injury, while Fernandez raced past two-time Wimbledon champion Stefan Olsson 6-2 6-2.
Both Fernandez and Reid were taken to deciding match tie-breaks in their semi-finals, Fernandez finding plenty of fault in his performance against Stephane Houdet before advancing 6-4 3-6 [11-9], while Reid battled back against reigning Australian Open champion Joachim Gerard to prevail 3-6 6-1 [13-11].
However, come the final, Reid produced a performance that was as clinical as it was calm in its execution, beating Fernandez 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 18 minutes.
“Tactically I got it spot on today and executed the game plan pretty convincingly,” said Reid after what was the first ever meeting on grass between the two Wimbledon champions.
“I served pretty steadily and returned to the right spot, so everything combined to give me a good chance to do well. I like to slice my backhand, it becomes more effective on the grass and causes a lot of damage. That’s one shot that worked really well today.”
Four Grand Slam doubles champions took to court for the men’s doubles final in London, as Gerard and Olsson, the 2019 champions at both Queen’s and Wimbledon, battled back from a set and 5-4 down to beat Tom Egberink and Fernandez 1-6 7-6(4) [10-6].
“It’s amazing, it’s what we strive for - we had too many unforced errors in the beginning but then we started to play more like we did in 2019," said Olsson, referring to their previous triumph when they dropped just one game in the final against Hewett and Reid.
“It’s the last year for me, so I’m really happy,” added Olsson, who had originally planned to hang up his racket last year after the Tokyo Paralympics were postponed.
“I told my tennis federation that I was done in July and then I told Jo that I can’t do this anymore because I have a hip problem that makes it hard to even move on the court now. So I started studying in August, but it was boring and so I said ‘OK, one more year’.”
“It’s always a pleasure to play with Stef,“ said Gerard, who won the 2019 Australian Open men’s doubles title partnering Olsson before they went on to win the Wimbledon title. “In a few weeks I wanted to play with him at Wimbledon again, but he didn’t get the wild card and that’s heartbreak for both of us as he’s a very good friend and we know each other so well.”