Shingo Kunieda secured his rise to the top of the men’s singles rankings for the seventh time in his career en route to earning a debut victory at the French Riviera Open on Sunday.

At the same event, Diede de Groot and Sam Schroder clinched the women’s singles and quad singles titles at the latest Super Series event on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.

Kunieda, who first became world No. 1 back in October 2006, lost the top spot to Alfie Hewett in March after the 38-year-old was only able to get as far as the semi-finals at the Cajun Classic. However, with Hewett not defending his French Riviera Open title in Biot, it was Kunieda’s progress to the last four at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy that saw the Japanese move back past Hewett.

However, the top seed was not done there, and Kunieda eased to a 6-2 6-3 victory over world No. 3 Gustavo Fernandez, beating the Argentinian in a major final for the second weekend in a row.

"Roland Garros was a really good result for me. On the clay courts for the last two or three years was not so good for me. It’s a good moment now," said Kunieda after clinching the 36th Super Series singles title of his career.

"The end of 2008 and 2012 was my time. The end of last year and this year is almost the same (feeling) for me.

"The first time in Philippe Chatrier was good for wheelchair tennis. It’s a beautiful court. A very big court. Roland Garros...I played something really grand there," added Kunieda, who partnered Fernandez to win their men's doubles semi-final on Court Philippe Chatrier in Paris as Roland Garros became the latest Grand Slam tournament to host a wheelchair tennis match on its centre court.

The 27-time Grand Slam singles champion will now return to Japan and forego the grass court season in Great Britain, having succeeded Hewett as Roland Garros champion and French Riviera Open champion on the clay in the last two weeks.

After withstanding all the attention and pressure that goes with being one of the focal athletes at a home Paralympic Games, Kunieda secured an unpredecented third men's singles gold medal at Tokyo 2020. He then went straight to New York, where he earned his eight US Open singles title, but admits that the culmination of his 2021 season took a toll before starting anew this year.

"After the US Open I lost motivation," he said. "I played very well in the Australian Open final and then I recognised that I could do more. So now is very much about tennis … about focusing on my inside. It is why I could keep winning and keep motivated."

While Fernandez had to be content with runners-up honours in the men’s singles in Biot, the men’s doubles brought him a second successive Super Series title partnering Spain’s Martin de la Puente. After their maiden Super Series success at the Cajun Classic, De la Puente and Fernandez claimed their second career victory over two-time Paralympic champions Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer 7-5 6-1.

De Groot claims third French Riviera Open women's tittle

While Kunieda’s passage to the men’s semi-finals earned his return to the world No.1 ranking, Yui Kamiji’s women’s singles semi-final caught the attention for different reasons.

The world No. 2 recovered from 5-0 down in the first set against world No. 3 Aniek van Koot and had a chance to level the scores at 5-5 before Van Koot finally converted her fifth set point. The Dutchwoman then had three match points at 5-4 up in the second set and lost a fourth match point before Kamiji took the set and went on to wrap up a 4-6 7-6(3) 6-0 win.

However, as at Roland Garros a week earlier, Kamiji’s title ambitions came to an end against world No. 1 De Groot in the final, the top seed earning a 6-1 7-6(3) victory for her third French Riviera Open singles title and her second successive Super Series title in Biot.

There was also no stopping De Groot and Van Koot in the women’s doubles as they again wrapped up back-to-back titles at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy after beating Kamiji and Kgothatso Montjane 6-4 6-1.

Schroder and Vink dominate quad singles and doubles

Seven days on from Schroder finishing runner-up to his compatriot and world No. 1 Niels Vink at Roland Garros, the two Dutchmen were due to go head-to-head again for another major quad singles title before Vink was forced to withdraw from the final.

Schroder’s walkover means that he and Vink now have two French Riviera Open titles apiece in the six-year history of the tournament, including one apiece in the last two years that the event has had Super Series status.

They again dominated the quad doubles, too. After beating Rio Paralympic champions Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson in the 2021 final, Tokyo Paralympics champions Schroder and Vink justified top seeding to beat reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champions Andy Lapthorne and David Wagner 6-3 6-3 this time.

In doing so they emulated De Groot and Van Koot and left France with back-to-back Grand Slam and Super Series doubles titles going back to Netherlands.