Kamiji, Sasson and Hewett claim first titles of 2024 at Victorian Open
Yui Kamiji moved to within five tournament wins of earning her 100th senior singles title as the world No.2 joined Alfie Hewett and Guy Sasson in claiming the first ITF 1 women’s, men’s and quad singles titles of 2024 at the Ray White Victorian Wheelchair Open.
Almost 16 years after winning her first senior title as a 14-year-old, Kamiji secured her third successive Victorian Open crown with four straight sets victories, including two over fellow top 10 players Dana Mathewson and Aniek van Koot.
While Kamiji beat her doubles partner Kgothatso Montjane 6-2 7-5 in the semi-finals before defeating Van Koot 7-5 6-2 in the final, together reigning ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters champions Kamiji and Montjane teamed up to land their first Victorian Open title together after beating Luoyao Guo and Zhenzhen Zhu 6-3 6-4.
The Chinese duo have now reached successive ITF 3, ITF 2 and ITF 1 finals in the three tournaments they have played together, with Kamiji on the opposite side of the net in each title decider. But their route to their first ITF 1 final was memorable after saving multiple match points in a remarkable semi-final match tie-break against Lucy Shuker and Van Koot that ended in a 6-1 4-6 (20-18) win.
Hewett nets first title of 2024
After ending 2023 as ITF World Champion for the first time on the back of his best season to date, Alfie Hewett achieved another first as he claimed his maiden Victorian Open title.
Having lost out in last year’s quarter-finals, Hewett fended off a spirited performance from Casey Ratzlaff in his opening match of 2024, coming through 7-6(1) 7-5, But thereafter he produced three much more comprehensive victories, ending with a 6-1 6-4 win over second seed Martin de la Puente.
Takashi Sanada was the only player to upset the seeding in the men’s singles draw, the fifth seed taking two hours and 28 minutes to beat third seed Gordon Reid 7-5 4-6 6-3 and book his place in the semi-finals. But Sanada was on the end of a minor upset himself in the men’s doubles as the experience of Dutch duo Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers saw them through to the finals after defeating second seeds Daisuke Arai and Sanada 6-2 6-3.
However, third seeds Egberink and Scheffers would go no further after awarding a walkover to top seeds De la Puente and Joachim Gerard ahead of the final.
Sasson earns third ITF 1 title and new career-best ranking
Guy Sasson claimed his third ITF 1 Series singles title and his first outside of Europe to lift the first quad singles trophy of 2024.
A highly competitive quad singles draw saw fifth seed Andy Lapthorne earn an early-season boost after beating top seed David Wagner 6-0 6-2 in the quarter-finals, while Lapthorne battled his way to a second set tie-break against fourth seed Sasson.
However, having come through his first tie-break of the new season to overcome Lapthorne 6-0-7-6(6), Sasson made sure that no tie-break was needed in the final as she recorded his third successive career win over second seed and home favourite Heath Davidson 6-2 6-1. Sasson has subsequently moved up two places to a new career-best at No. 4 in this week's quad singles rankings.
The quad doubles brought a second successive title for the partnership of Tomas Masaryk and Donald Ramphadi. Almost nine months on from their first title together and having lost just one game on their way to their latest final at Hume Tennis and Community Centre, top seeds Masaryk and Ramphadi battled back after a strong start from Brazilian duo Leandro Pena and Ymanitu Silva to prevail 1-6 6-1 (10-5).
Kamiji, Hewett and Sasson and their peers will all have additional competition to contend with this week at the Melbourne Open, with men's world No. 2 Tokito Oda and world No. 1 women's and quad singles players Diede de Groot and Niels Vink among those set to get their seasons underway at the first Super Series tournament on the 2024 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
The Melbourne Open will again include live stream coverage of the semi-finals and finals.