Draw presents potential Wimbledon final rematch for Reid
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Gordon Reid has the prospect of a rematch of his recent Wimbledon final against Joachim Gerard of Belgium after the draw was made on Monday evening for the 31st British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships.
With all eight men’s seeds having early byes, fifth seed Reid will play the winner of the first round-match-up between Japan’s Takuya Miki and Israel’s Shlomo Sharony, with Gerard a potential quarter-final opponent. Fellow Brit and second seed Alfie Hewett will face either Dutchman Ruben Spaargaren or Frederic Cattaneo of France in his opening match and, with Hewett and Reid both in the bottom half of the men’s draw, there is a possibility of them meeting in the semi-finals later in the week.
Outside of the Brits, there is an intriguing first round match-up between Spain’s top two players, Martin de la Puente and Daniel Caverzaschi, while young Brits Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward will both play Top 10 ranked opponents in the form of Japan’s Takashi Sanada and former two-time Wimbledon champion Stefan Olsson of Sweden.
Dutch top seeds Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot are the only two players to have byes in the women’s singles, the draw producing an all-British match-up between Cornelia Oosthuizen and Abbie Breakwell.
While Breakwell makes her British Open women’s singles main draw debut, so does fellow Brit Ruby Bishop, who is drawn to meet the USA’s Shelby Baron, with the winner going on to face two-time British Open champion De Groot.
Jordanne Whiley opens her bid for a third British Open title against Japan’s Manami Tanaka, with an all-British quarter-final a possibility, should Lucy Shuker overcome Jiske Griffioen of the Netherlands.
All four top seeds have first round byes in the quad singles, which features five Brits. Among those with byes, British No.1 and second seed Andy Lapthorne will open his campaign to reach a sixth British Open final against either young Brit Greg Slade or Japan’s world No.6 Greg Slade.
Meanwhile, among the four first round quad singles contests there is an all-British match-up to open proceedings on the British Open’s centre court. Antony Cotterill, selected for the Tokyo Paralympics alongside Lapthorne, takes on Richard Green, with Green arriving in Nottingham on the back of reaching thee quad doubles semi-finals at the Swiss Open.
Another fascinating first round tie will see local Nottinghamshire player James Shaw take on South Korea’s Kyu-Seung Kim.
