The first of the men’s and women’s singles semi-finalists were decided on Thursday’s third day of play at the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters, meaning that the line-ups for the crucial last round-robin matches are also set at the USTA National Campus at Lake Nona, Orlando.

Arguably the biggest result of the day went the way of South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane, who earned just her third career win over world No. 3 Aniek van Koot after defeating the reigning Wimbledon champion 5-7 6-0 7-5.

Montjane’s most recent victory over Van Koot before this week came in the round-robin phase of the 2015 NEC Masters and Thursday’s win means that 2014 champion Van Koot is now unable to reach this year’s semifinals after being beaten by Jordanne Whiley in her opening match.

Instead, Montane will now go forward to meet Whiley in a must-win last round-robin match on Saturday to decide which of them will join Pool B winner Yui Kamiij in the knockout phase of the competition.

 “I’ve been knocking on this door for a while, trying to get these big wins, so today’s match was a really positive one. It give me more energy to now looking forward to trying to get into the semifinals and I’m just glad I could wrap it up,” said Montjane.

“I think the secret was just staying mentally strong and not giving out a lot. That’s been my habit, making a lot of unforced errors. So just keeping the ball in court was what really worked for me and it really kept me in the match, along with just believing in myself.

In the other women’s Pool B match, Whiley produced her best performance of the season against Kamiji, despite just coming up short in either set. At 5-4 down and 40-0 down in the opening set Whiley saved three set points and she saved more set points in the tiebreak before Kamiji finally earned the breakthrough.

The ninth game of the second set was a marathon affair, but Kamiji eventually took it and it was a Whiley forehand that strayed long that handed Kamiji the 7-6(7) 6-4 vicotry.

World No. 1 and defending champion Diede de Groot booked her place in the last four after a 6-1 6-3 victory over fellow Dutchwoman Marjolein Buis and Buis and Zhenzhen Zhu go into Saturday’s last day of round-robin matches on a win apiece after Zhu’s 6-1 6-4 victory over former NEC Masters finalist Sabine Ellerbrock.

Kunieda and Fernandez maintain perfect records in men’s singles

Gustavo Fernandez and Shingo Kunieda maintained their 100 per cent records in the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters as world No. 1 Fernandez earned his place in the men’s semi-finals after defeating 2017 champion Alfie Hewett 6-3 6-4 in Pool A.

“In my first match against Stefan (Olsson), after two months without playing it was very tough to get into the rhythm and Stefan started playing amazing. But I kept calm and kept my composure and waited until the moment that I could hit,” said Fernandez.

“I was smart enough to hold when it got really tough. And when I got the open field I tried to hit and I think I did well. I continued today where I left off in that match. He’s (Hewett) one of the toughest players on tour, so I’m very glad I pulled it off. I think today I played an amazing match.”

The day’s other Pool A contest saw Olsson beat Stephane Houdet 7-5, 6-2 to end the world No. 3-ranked Frenchman’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals. Olsson will therefore play Hewett on Saturday to decide who joins Fernandez in advancing to the semi-finals.

There was a dramatic start to the Pool B contest between Kunieda and Joachim Gerard – a match that saw last year’s finalists go head-to-head once again – with Kunieda needing a repair timeout in the very first game after concerns for the frame on his tennis chair.

Gerard capitalised on the situation and sped into a 4-0 lead before taking the opening set, but Kunieda replied in kind in the second set to bring the contest down to a one set shoot-out. Ultimately, Japan’s world No.2 had the final word with a forehand volley down the centre of the open court to complete his 2-6 6-4 6-3 victory.

“Jo was a very tough opponent today, but after the second set I could control the game and play my tennis. I am very happy,” said Kunieda, whose relief at gaining the win and remaining unbeaten was clearly visible as he converted match point.

In the same pool, Gordon Reid saved a match point at 5-3 down in the final set of his contest against Nicolas Peifer and pulled the score back to 5-5, before Peifer earned a 3-6 7-5 7-5 victory.

Kunieda plays Peifer and Gerard faces Reid in Saturday’s last round-robin matches, with Peifer and Gerard going into the respective contests with one win apiece so far.

LIVE STREAMING OF THE 2019 NEC WHEELCHAIR SINGLES MASTERS AND UNIQLO WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES MASTERS WILL BE AVAILABLE EACH DAY VIA THE ITF WHEELCHAIR TENNIS WEBSITE.