Lucy Shuker won the women’s singles title at the 14th Nottingham Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament which drew to a fascinating conclusion on Sunday at the City of Nottingham Tennis Centre.
The victory brought a first Nottingham Indoor title for British No 1 Lucy Shuker, who was contesting her second final in the ITF 2 Series event since 2005. The 28 year-old defeated Aniek Van Koot 7-5 6-1 in the final to lift the trophy.
Second seed Shuker, who currently splits her training programme between Taunton and the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, made a superb start to this year’s final against world No 8 and top seed Van Koot, taking a 3-0 lead before temporarily losing her focus as her Dutch opponent came back to level the first set at 4-4.
However, world No 13 Shuker asserted at the business end of the set and after taking another 3-0 lead in the second set she didn’t allow Van Koot another chance to hit back.
Since narrowly missing out on a place in the quarter-finals of the Beijing Paralympics in September, Shuker has worked on specific changes to her serve and return of serve and the work paid off obvious dividends on Sunday.
Sunday’s win brought Shuker her third singles title of 2008 and secured back-to-back titles on home soil for the Brit after she won the Cardiff Wheelchair Tennis Tournament in mid-October.
"It's always good to win a tournament on home soil and to do it by beating a top 10 player makes it even more special,” said Shuker. “I played well and it's really satisfying to see the changes I've been working on in training since Beijing pay dividends. It's a big confidence boost ahead of making my debut in the Singles Masters in just over a week's time."
In the doubles, Shuker and fellow Brit Jordanne Whiley came from behind to clinch a straight sets victory in the final over Marjolein Buis of the Netherlands and Katharina Kruger of Germany. It was Shuker’s first doubles title of the year while Whiley has now notched four wins in 2008.
Meanwhile, Stefan Olsson and Johan Andersson made it a Swedish double by winning the men’s singles and quad singles titles in Nottingham.
By Marshall Thomas in Nottingham