Oda continues dream run, while Hewett and De Groot make winning start
At just 16 years of age, Japan’s Tokito Oda is already taking the world of wheelchair tennis by storm.
Having cracked the world’s Top 10 for the first time at the end of last year, Oda can now add ‘Grand Slam semi-finalist’ to his ever-expanding tennis resumé. After defeating Nicolas Peifer 6-1 6-3 in his first Grand Slam match on Tuesday, Oda romped to a 6-1 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Gordon Reid on Wednesday to advance to the last four.
“Yesterday I was a little bit nervous because it was my first time in a Grand Slam,” Oda said after his victory against Reid. “But today was my second match so I could relax. I played good drop shots, some good volleys. I think it was a really nice match.”
Oda’s win sets up an intriguing all-Japanese clash with Shingo Kunieda, who defeated Stephane Houdet 6-3 6-2 to get off to a winning start. And while Oda certainly has ambitions to match his compatriot’s stellar career, he was not getting ahead of himself.
“Of course, my dream is to be the best,” he said. “But I need to focus on my next match. Whoever I play, it’s always going to be a tough match.”
It certainly will be a fascinating battle between the 16-year-old and the man who has won 26 Grand Slam singles titles (and who, at 38 years of age, is 22 years’ Oda’s senior). Kunieda won the pair’s only previous meeting, but Oda was competitive throughout, forcing two tiebreaks in a straight sets defeat in the final at the Melbourne Wheelchair Open in January.
With Kunieda viewed as the greatest male wheelchair tennis player of all time, and Oda likely to be touted as his successor, Roland Garros fans with ground passes on Thursday should definitely head to Court 13 to watch a battle of the generations.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Alfie Hewett eased to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Tom Egberink, while Gustavo Fernandez came through a tight first set before speeding to a 6-4 6-1 win against Martin de la Puente. The pair will meet in the other men’s semi-final on Thursday.
In the women’s draw, top seed and defending champion Diede de Groot enjoyed a strong start to her bid to win a sixth consecutive Grand Slam title, recording a comfortable 6-2 6-1 victory against Angelica Bernal. De Groot will progress to a semi-final against Kgothatso Montjane, who defeated Jiske Griffioen 6-3 6-3.
The other women’s semi-final will see No. 2 seed Yui Kamiji take on No. 3 seed Aniek van Koot – but both players were made to work for their wins on Wednesday. Kamiji lost the first five games of the match and then dropped the second set before triumphing 7-6(5) 3-6 6-2 against Momoko Ohtani, while Van Koot came from a set down to defeat Dana Mathewson 4-6 6-2 6-3.
The quad singles event also began on Wednesday, with No. 2 seed Sam Schroder defeating Donald Ramphadi – a player he confessed that he was hoping to avoid in the first round – 6-3 7-5, while David Wagner got the better of a hard-fought clash with Ymanitu Silva, winning 6-1 3-6 6-4 to advance to a semi-final match-up against Schroder.
The two other first round quad singles matches will be played on Thursday, with the women’s and quad semi-finals to take place on Friday.