Dutch and British players dominated the fifth edition of the French Riviera Open.

Niels Vink and Diede de Groot won their latest quad singles and women’s singles Super Series titles, while Alfie Hewett became the second Brit to secure back-to-back men’s singles titles at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Biot.

It is less than two years since 18-year-old Vink and 21-year-old countryman Sam Schroder claimed their first Super Series titles, just a month apart in the summer of 2019.

Schroder’s first Super Series crown came at the BNP Paribas Open de France, but with the French Riviera Open this year continuing the tradition of France hosting a Super Series event on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, Schroder showed that he was in the mood for another major title after defeating world No.1 Dylan Alcott 7-5 6-4 in the quad singles semis.

In beating Alcott, Schroder ended the Australian’s 14-match winning streak that began at the rearranged 2020 French Riviera Open last October, shortly after Schroder stunned Alcott to win his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open.

However, it was a performance that Schroder could not repeat in this year’s final and, instead, it was world No.5 Vink – a semi-final victor over world No.2 Andy Lapthorne - who became a two-time Super Series champion as he powered to a 6-1 6-3 victory in the all-Dutch final.

With a little over 70 days to go until the Tokyo Paralympics, Schroder and Vink also posted notice of their medal potential after defeating Rio gold medallists and top seeds Alcott and Heath Davidson 6-4 6-3 in the quad doubles final. Victory also brought the Dutch duo their second Super Series doubles title after they also beat Alcott and Davidson to win the 2020 Tweed Heads International in Australia.

While the quad singles brought just a second Super Series title for Vink, success at the highest tier of wheelchair tournament outside of the Grand Slams is much more commonplace for De Groot. The 24-year-old world No. 1 took her tally of Super Series singles titles to nine after winning the women’s singles final against Yui Kamiji 6-2 6-1, stretching her current unbeaten sequence against the world No. 2 to four matches – all of them finals.

To underpin her current dominance, de Groot completed the tournament having dropped no more than three games in eight successive sets of singles in Biot.   

There was another Dutch-Japanese title decider in the women’s doubles after Kamiji and Saki Takamuro produced a polished performance to beat British second seeds Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley 7-5 6-4 in the semi-finals. However, the third seeds provided few problems for de Groot and Aniek van Koot, who followed up their latest Grand Slam success at Roland Garros by adding another Super Series title 6-0 6-2.

There was an element of surprise in the men’s singles quarter-finals after Jef Vandorpe beat fellow Belgian and 2020 Roland Garros finalist Joachim Gerard for just the second time in his career, Vandorpe advancing to a semi-final against top seed Gustavo Fernandez 7-5 6-1.

Nineteen-year-old Vandorpe fleetingly suggested that he might pull off a bigger upset in the semi-finals after winning his opening game against Fernandez. However, the world No.2 soon ruled that out as he reeled off 12 games in a row to set up a rematch of his Roland Garros semi-final against world No.3 Hewett.

As he did in Paris a week earlier, Fernandez again took the opening set from Hewett. But the Briton ensured that there was no need for any grand comebacks on this occasion, stringing together eight points without reply to open a 4-1 lead in their latest final set decider. While Fernandez fought back to level the set, Hewett ultimately made it back-to-back Grand Slam and Super Series victories, sealing his third career Super Series title 2-6 6-3 6-4.

While the latest edition of the French Riviera Open was the first one to have Super Series status, Hewett’s success saw him join fellow Brit Gordon Reid as back-to-back singles champions in Biot, where the tournament had previously held ITF 2 and ITF 1 status.

The men’s doubles brought a sixth Super Series title together for the partnership of Hewett and Reid as the top seeds followed up their successful Roland Garros title defence with another final against second seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer.

Hewett and Reid defeated their French rivals 6-2 7-6(7) after Houdet and Peifer recovered from 5-1 down in the second set to the point of almost forcing a match tie-break.