Resilient Ramphadi nets first Australian Open wheelchair singles win
Devilishly good drop shots, a wealth of winners and resilience during those long rallies. Just some of the qualities that saw Donald Ramphadi claim his first Australian Open singles win on the first day of the wheelchair event in Melbourne.
We have of course seen him at Melbourne Park before, having received a wild card for the quad division draw in 2022.
But now with more experience on the big stages that the majors provide - having featured at all four last year and claimed his first Grand Slam singles match-win at Flushing Meadows last September - all the improvements that he has made to both his physical and mental game were on display as he came out on top against Canada’s Rob Shaw 7-6(7) 3-6 6-1.
“That was a tough one,” Ramphadi said. “Rob is a very smart player and there were some really long rallies so it wasn’t an easy one.
“Rob played very well. He was placing those balls away from me every time and so he made me work for the win.
“You know if Rob is going to hit a winner it’s a good winner and that’s it. You’re never going to get to it. But I tried to bring down the number of unforced errors so I wasn’t giving away any [free] points.
“I’m very proud and excited about my progress.”
With 63 winners to his opponent's 37, it was clear the world No.5 wanted to stamp his authority on this must-see match which also saw him serve seven aces as the sun set on Melbourne Park.
Ramphadi explained: “It’s something that we always do in practice - setting up and serving wide like I was doing at points today, and then the next ball I’ll find the space and go there.
“You always want to do the same in a match situation but you know that doesn’t always happen the same in training. Today it worked, and I’m happy about that.”
And the South African ace, who now progresses to his second successive Grand Slam singles semi-final, may be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja-vu. Waiting for him on the other of the net is the player he faced at the 2022 US Open in the same stage of the draw, Niels Vink.
But as with everything Ramphadi has done in the twelve months since he made his Australian Open debut, he’s determined to take what he learnt from his last meeting with Vink at a Grand Slam and use that to improve his result against the current world No.1, whether that results in a win or not.
“When I was in the US I was trying to implement some new strategies, some of them worked against him, some of them didn’t. So I’m just going to try and mix it up with the stuff I know works against him and see how he responds to that,” he said.
Ramphadi wasn’t the only one who treated us to a three-set thriller on the opening day in Melbourne.
Earlier in the day in the men’s open draw we were treated to a whole host of them, including an early upset as Alexander Cataldo came back from a set down to stun fourth seed Joachim Gerard 1-6 6-4 6-2.
At that start of that match Gerard, who won the Victorian Open title two weeks ago, looked like he was going to sail to victory, dominating much of the first set, but momentum swung Cataldo's way, the world No. 16 taking his opportunities when it mattered to book his spot in tomorrow's singles quarter-final where he’ll face Japan’s Takuya Miki.
Discover the draws and results from the 2023 Australian Open Wheelchair Championships here