Alfie Hewett claims fifth title of the year in Sardinia as Brits reap more doubles success on ITF Tour
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Catch up on the latest from the British stars as Alfie Hewett and the rest of the wheelchair players travelled to the Sardinia Open.
Wheelchair stars shine in Sardinia
Alfie Hewett added his name to the Sardinia Open roll of honour as he earned his fifth men’s singles title of 2022 with victory at the ITF 1 Series event in Alghero.
Hewett has now won 50 singles titles in junior and senior competition on the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour since his international tournament victory in 2011.
World No.1 Hewett eased through to the quarter-finals before battling past Belgian fifth seed Joachim Gerard 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and Spain’s Martin de le Puente 6-0, 1-6, 7-6(3) in a rain-affected tournament, but saved his best for last to defeat Argentinian world No.3 and second seed Gustavo Fernandez 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
Hewett’s first tournament partnering fellow Norfolk player Ben Bartram also proved fruitful, the duo reaching the semi-finals after back-to-back 6-0, 6-0 wins over Italian partnerships and then pushing top seeds De la Puente and Fernandez all the way before bowing out 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3.
Bartram reached his first ITF 1 singles quarter-final before losing out to second seed Fernandez 6-3, 6-0.
Lucy Shuker and Cornelia Oosthuizen, who were on opposite sides of the net in the 2021 Sardinia Open women’s doubles final, reached their first ITF 1 final as a partnership after coming through an intense semi-final against Pauline Deroulede of France and Maayan Zikri of Israel 6-7(5), 6-3, (10-8) but ultimately finished runners-up to Dutch top seeds Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot.
Oosthuizen and Shuker also saw their singles challenges come to an end against Van Koot, who beat Oosthuizen 6-0, 6-1 in the last 16 and Shuker 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals.
Greg Slade progressed to the quad singles consolation final after a 6-1, 6-0 first round loss to Canadian second seed Robert Shaw. Meanwhile, second seeds Shaw and Ymanitu Silva were also on the opposite side of the net when Slade and Italy’s Mario Alfredo Naselli bowed out in the second round of the quad doubles 6-1, 6-0, having started with a 6-0, 6-0 win over the all-Italian partnership of Nicola Astori and Mariagrazia Lumini.
ITF doubles titles for Hussey, Monday and Maggs
Britain’s Giles Hussey and Johannus Monday both won their second M25 doubles titles of their careers in Falun last week.
The Fourth seeds had to come through two match tie-breaks in their final two matches to lift the title in Sweden. In the semi-finals they came from a set down to knock out top seeds David Poljak and Eero Vasa 2-6, 7-6(3), 10-6. The Brits then marched on to the final, where once again they overcame a deficit to defeat Scandinavian duo Vesa Ahti and Arslanbek Temirhanvov 4-6, 7-5, 10-4.
There was also a doubles victory for Alexander Maggs - who claimed his first career ITF title at the M15 Albuquerque.
21-year-old Maggs teamed up with Czech Republic's Jan Pucalka, with the unseeded duo taking a 7-5, 7-5 win over Demetris Azoides and Franco Ribero in the final.
