Oda wins first Super Series as De Groot, Vink repeat at Cajun Classic
In March 2021 Tokito Oda was still a month away from the first of five successive tournaments in Turkey where he built an incredible sequence of results to give notice that the then 14-year-old was a player to watch.
Two years later and 16-year-old Oda ticked off another career landmark on Sunday when he claimed his first Super Series title on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour at the Cajun Classic in Baton Rouge, defeating Gustavo Fernandez 2-6 6-0 6-1 in the final.
It’s a victory that significantly closes the gap between world No. 2 Oda and world No. 1 Alfie Hewett at the top of the men’s singles rankings, assisted by Hewett’s Baton Rouge title defence coming to an end in the quarter-finals after a 4-6 7-5 7-6(6) loss to Ruben Spaargaren.
Spaargaren remains the only player to have not only beaten Hewett this season, but to have done it twice after the Dutchman won their Melbourne Open quarter-final. In between Spaargaren’s two wins Hewett had accrued a 16-match winning streak.
Spaargaren followed his latest win over Hewett by coming closer than ever before to beating Fernandez before the Argentinian wrapped up a 4-6 7-5 7-5 win in the semi-finals.
But when it comes to career-firsts, Casey Ratzlaff’s 6-1 3-6 6-3 second round win over fifth seed Martin de la Puente will rank highly on the 24-year-old's loist of highlights as it was Ratzlaff's first career victory over a top 10 player to reach his first Super Series quarter-final before winning just two games against Oda.
Oda’s tournament included beating former Cajun Classic champion Gordon Reid 6-3 6-3 in the singles semi-finals, but despite neither Hewett nor Reid going further than the last four in singles, their doubles winning streak continues to grow. The British duo return to No. 1 and No. 2 in the men’s doubles rankings this week after beating top seeds De La Puente and Fernandez 7-6(1) 6-2 in the Baton Rouge final for their first Cajun Classic title, their fourth title of the season and their 13th win from 13 matches played in 2023.
De Groot nets 15th Super Series title
Diede de Groot’s title defence in the women’s singles brought the world No. 1 her 15th ITF Super Series singles title after she fended off a Japanese challenge in a final for the fourth time this season.
However, this time it was not world No. 2 Yui Kamiji who was De Groot’s nearest challenger but Momoko Ohtani as the fourth seed contested her first Super Series singles final. With De Groot having lost the first set of her previous three finals this season against Kamiji, Kamiji’s absence in Baton Rouge made the top seed’s task much more straight forward and she beat Ohtani 6-2 6-0 to make it back-to-back Cajun Classic titles.
That De Groot has not won more singles titles in Baton Rouge is partly down to fellow Dutchwoman Aniek van Koot having beaten De Groot in the 2019 final, before the pandemic resulted in the 2020 and 2021 tournaments being cancelled.
However, Van Koot’s progress this year was ended by Ohtani in the semi-finals as the 2020 Roland Garros finalist earned a 6-3, 6-1 win to make it two victories over the world No. 4 in their last four meetings.
There was even more reason for Ohtani to celebrate in the women’s doubles, alongside partner Jiske Griffioen, as the fourth seeds clinched their first Super Series title together after beating top seeds De Groot and Van Koot.
Having only teamed up together for the first time at Wimbledon last July, Griffioen and Ohtani dropped just three games on their way to the Baton Rouge final before beating the reigning Paralympic and Doubles Masters champions for the first time 6-7(4) 6-1 (12-10) after a deciding match tie-break.
Vink returns to top spot after quad singles title defence
Niels Vink restored his place at the top of the quad singles rankings after a dominant performance in Baton Rouge saw the top seed drop just eight games in four matches on his way to retaining the Cajun Classic title.
With this year’s tournament a week later in the calendar than in 2022, Vink started his title defence as world No. 2 behind Sam Schroder but back-to-back 6-0 6-2 and 6-2 6-0 victories over world No. 3 David Wagner and second seed Schroder in the semi-finals and final saw an in-form Vink leave USA with two titles after his victory at the Georgia Open.
While Vink started his USA trip by beating Heath Davidson in the Georgia Open final, Davidson’s bid to reach a second successive final was ended by 2019 champion Koji Sugeno in the quarter-finals as the Japanese eighth seed sealed a 6-2 1-6 6-1 win before also taking Schroder to three sets in the semi-finals.
Schroder prevailed 6-1 5-7 6-4 but returns to Netherlands having now won just five games in two successive Cajun Classic finals against Vink.
As dominant as Schroder and Vink are at the top of the rankings at the moment, the top seeds made a slow start to their quad doubles semi-final before securing the big points to beat Brazil’s Leandro Pena and Ymantu Silva 3-6 6-0 (10-5).
That was the first time this season that the reigning Paralympic and Doubles Masters champions have dropped a set, but come the final they hit form from the outset, beating Davidson and Robert Shaw 6-1 6-0 to extend their 2023 record to seven wins from seven matches as a partnership.
Schroder now returns to the top of the quad doubles rankings, equal on points with Vink but having accrued his points from three fewer tournaments than his countryman.