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Lexus British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships

Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Ground, Roehampton 02 - 05 July 2024

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Andy Lapthorne and Antony Cotterill at the British Open
International

Lapthorne and Cotterill stun second seeds to reach quad doubles final

• 3 MINUTE READ

Antony Cotterill and Andy Lapthorne became the first Brits to reach a final at the British Open after upsetting American second seeds Bryan Barten and David Wagner 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3.

On a good day for the elite players on the LTA’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Pathway, Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid and Jordanne Whiley also progressed to men’s and women’s singles semi-finals, with Hewett and Reid facing each other on Friday. A Brit is therefore guaranteed a place in Sunday’s men’s singles final.

Cotterill and Lapthorne will face Dutch top seeds Sam Schroder and Niels Vink in Saturday’s quad doubles final after defeating Barten and Wagner, the same partnership that beat the British duo in the 2017 British Open final.

World No.3 Lapthorne said: “We’ve had a great couple of doubles wins after tough results earlier in our singles. It’s always good to win with Ant, a mate and also the player I’ll be playing with in Tokyo. To beat a team that we could potentially be playing for a medal next month is a massive plus for us.”

Cotterill added: “It was a great battle by us today. The last time we played this pairing and the guys we played in the first round we lost to both. We’re the first to admit we’re not playing as well as we should be, but it was a great team effort to come through that one.”

Reid recovered from 2-0 down in his second set against Belgian world No.3 Joachim Gerard to win 6-3, 6-2 and avenge his loss to Gerard in their Wimbledon final two weeks ago. 

“I’ve never thought I played badly in the Wimbledon final, I just didn’t execute the plan that I needed to,” said Reid. “I had a slightly different approach today and in the second set I upped my level from 2-0 down and was really happy with the performance from there.”

Hewett raced past two-time champion Stephane Houdet 6-1, 6-1 in his quarter-final and the top two British men will now meet in the British Open semi-finals for the second time since 2017.

Seven-time British Open champion and world No.1 Shingo Kunieda of Japan will play Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez in the other semi-final in what will be a rematch of their 2019 British Open final.

Meanwhile, two-time British Open champion Whiley was in fine form as she beat Rio Paralympic champion Jiske Griffioen 6-2, 6-3 to set up Friday’s semi-final against world No.3 Aniek van Koot. When Whiley won both her British Open titles in 2015 and 2016 she beat Griffioen in both semi-finals and Van Koot in both finals.

World No.1 and two-time British Open champion Diede de Groot of the Netherlands will play American fourth seed and first-time British Open semi-finalist Dana Mathewson in the other women’s singles last-four contest.

Lucy Shuker and Whiley also play their women’s doubles semi-final on Friday, the second seeds facing Japan’s Saki Takamuro and Manami Tanaka.

Watch live action from centre court all week on the LTA YouTube channel

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