Brits win five medals at 2017 INAS World Tennis Championships in Bolton

Fabrice Higgins and Dominic Iannotti won three medals apiece, including gold medals in the men’s doubles and the team standings. They also claimed the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s singles. Thomas Mellor and Peter Millar also won the men’s team bronze medal.

Higgins’ bid to add this year’s men’s singles gold medal to the gold medals he won in the same event in 2013 and 2014 looked to be on course when he took the second set of the final against Australian top seed Archie Graham without dropping a game. However, Graham finished strongest in the deciding match tie-break to win his second successive INAS World Championships singles gold medal 4-1, 0-4, (10-5).

Iannotti won his first World Championships medal after repeating his win over Ondrej Sledisky in the round-robin phase of the competition, defeating the Czech Republic player 4-1, 4-1 to claim the bronze medal.

Third seeds Higgins and Iannotti produced a fine performance to defeat Australian top seeds Graham and Damian Phillips 4-1, 2-4 (10-2) after another deciding match tie-break in the men’s doubles gold medal match.

“It feels a great honour to be two-time World Champions, especially playing in our home country in the UK and to be play with Fabrice, a great doubles partner, and to play in front of a great crowd." said Iannotti. "Playing in the doubles final today was such a great honour and I would like to thank the Tennis Foundation, Tennis Scotland and all the coaches here with the GB team.”

“It’s been a bit different to play a World Championships here in Bolton," said Higgins. "I’ve played so many time here over the years in tournaments and in training, but it’s been another successful one , so that‘s really good and it was great to finish off by winning the doubles gold medal at the end with Dom.”

Mellor and Millar’s efforts to add a second men’s doubles medal started well against another Australian partnership Joshua Holloway and Mitchell James, but the Australians prevailed 5-4(3), 4-1 to take the bronze medal.

Millar finished sixth in the men’s singles after third seed James won their last play-off match 4-0, 4-0. Mellor claimed seventh place after beating Phillips 4-1, 4-2.

A combination of their singles and doubles performance resulted in Higgins and Iannotti winning the team gold medal, while Mellor and Millar earned the team bronze medal behind silver medallists Graham and James.

“I have played in four INAS tournaments previously, all of which have been amazing experiences, and to put on a GB kit is a dream come true. As an ambassador for UKSA and supported by the Tennis Foundation I’m always looking to promote disability sport. My sport is my passion and all I want to do is help others achieve and reach their potential.”

Belgium and Australia dominated the women’s singles and doubles events to also finish as gold and silver medallists, respectively, in the women’s team standings.

Hanne Lavreysen beat Australian top seed Kelly Wren 4-1, 5-4(1) in the women’s singles final, with Belgium also winning the bronze medal after Lies Gielis secured a 4-2, 4-1 victory over the USA’s Brittany Tagliareni.

Carla Lenarduzzi and Wren won gold for Australia in the women’s doubles, beating Gielis and Lavreysen 5-4(4), 4-1.

However, the combined successes of Gielis and Lavreysen gained Belgium the team gold medal as Australia took the silver and Poland the bronze.

Organised by the Tennis Foundation, Great Britain’s leading tennis charity, whose vision is to make tennis a sport which is inclusive and accessible to all, the 8th INAS World Tennis Championships were the first to be held in Great Britain after previously being held in the likes of France, Czech Republic and the United States. It is hoped the staging the World Championships will raise the profile and awareness of Learning Disability Tennis and also encourage more people to play tennis in the UK, whatever their disability.

Final Draws

13/04/17 

Fabrice Higgins earned his place in his third INAS World Tennis Championships men’s singles final in five years on the penultimate day of play at USN Bolton Arena.

Higgins and Dominic Iannotti also booked their place in Friday’s men’s doubles final after one of three all-Brit match-ups on the fifth day of play.

Fourths seed Higgins, the 2013 and 2014 World Champion, will play Australian top seed Archie Phillips in the men’s singles final after beating eighth seed Iannotti 4-1, 4-0. The other semi-final featured the top two seeded players as Graham beat Czech Republic second seed Ondrej Sedlisky 4-0, 4-2

Iannotti will now play Sedlisky for the bronze medal, having already beaten the Czech Republic player in the round-robin pool phase of the competition earlier in the week.

Later in the day Higgins and Iannotti paired up to beat Thomas Mellor and PeterMillar 4-0, 4-0 in their men’s doubles semi-final. Higgins and Iannotti will now play for the gold medal, with Mellor and Millar playing for the bronze medal.

Millar also beat Mellor 4-2, 4-1 in their first men’s singles play-off match since bowing out of the medal hunt in the quarter-finals. Millar will play Australian third seed Mitchell James for fifth place. Meanwhile, Mellor will face Australia’s Damian Phillips in the seventh place play-off.

The first gold medal of the 2017 INAS World Tennis Championships went to Australian top seeds Kelly Wren and Damian Phillips, who beat Belgian second seeds Hanne Lavreysen and Jochen Fens 4-0, 5-4(2) in the mixed doubles final.

12/04/17

Former world champion Fabrice Higgins and Dominic Iannotti won Wednesday’s two all-Brit men’s singles quarter-finals at the 2017 INAS World Tennis Championships to join Australia’s Archie Graham and Ondrej Sedlisky of Czech Republic in Thursday’s semi-finals at USN Bolton Arena.

Fourth seed Higgins, the 2013 and 2014 gold medallist, defeated Thomas Mellor, the silver medallist in both of the previous all-Brit finals, 4-0, 4-1 to reach the last four this year. Eighth seed Iannotti proved strongest against Peter Millar, winning 4-0, 4-0.

Higgins and Iannotti will now meet in Thursday’s semi-finals, while all four Brits will also be on court in Thursday’s men’s doubles semi-finals as third seeds Higgins and Iannotti take on fourth seeds Mellor and Millar.

Elsewhere in the men’s singles quarter-finals, top seed Graham held off compatriot Damian Phillips 4-1, 4-0 to set up a semi-final against second seed Sedlisky. Sedlsky denied third seed Mitchell James the opportunity of setting up an all-Australian semi-final after winning their quarter-final 4-1, 5-4(5).

The first of the gold medals will be won on Thursday’s fifth day of play in Bolton when the mixed doubles final takes place, featuring Australian top seeds Damian Phillips and Kelly Wren and Belgian second seeds Jochen Fens and Hanne Lavreysen.

Phillips and Wren won their all-Australian semi-final against Graham and Carla Lenarduzzi in a deciding match tie-break.

Friday’s women’s singles finalists have also been decided after top seed Wren beat USA second seed Brittany Tagliareni 5-3, 4-0 in Wednesday’s semi-finals. Wren will play Lavreysen for the gold medal after the Belgian’s 4-0, 4-0 semi-final win over her countrywoman Lies Gielis.

11/04/17

A Great Britain player is guaranteed a place in the men’s singles final on Friday at the INAS World Tennis Championships. Fabrice Higgins, Thomas Mellor, Dominic Iannotti and Peter Millar dominate the bottom half of the quarter-final draw following the completion of round-robin matches in Bolton on Tuesday.

While Great Britain, Australia and Czech Republic players all feature in the men’s singles quarter-finals, the men’s doubles gold medal match is also guaranteed to be between a Brit pairing and an Australian pairing with partnerships from both countries to meet in the semi-finals.

Eighth seed Iannnotti topped Pool B with four wins from four matches after beating Czech Republic second seed Ondrej Sedlisky 6-1 in last round-robin match. Meanwhile, fourth seed Higgins also finished atop Pool C after beating Czech Republic seventh seed Jakub Jerhot 6-0. Higgins’ victory was the two-time men’s singles World Champion’s fourth 6-0 victory in his four round-robin matches.

With Millar having already completed his four Pool D matches with three wins, he advances to the quarter-finals as runner-up in his pool to Australian third seed Mitchell James. Meanwhile, Mellor also finished runner-up in Pool A to unbeaten Australian top seed Archie Graham. A 6-2 victory against Belgian Jochen Fens on Tuesday gave former World Championships silver medallist Mellor his third win in his round-robin matches.

Higgins and Mellor will meet in Wednesday’s quarter-finals in Bolton in what will be a rematch of their 2013 and 2014 INAS World Championships finals. Iannotti and Millar will meet in the other quarter-final in the bottom half of the men’s singles draw.

With the top two players in each round-robin pool going forward to the quarter-finals, Sedlisky and Australia’s Damian Phillips finished runners-up in Pool B and Pool C, respectively. Phillips will play top seed Graham in an all-Australian quarter-final and Sedlisky will also meet third seed James for a place in the semi-finals.

Higgins and Iannotti will also play Mellor and Millar for a place in the men’s doubles final, guaranteeing that a British partnership will play for another gold medal.

Third seeds Higgins and Iannotti beat Australian second seeds Joshua Holloway and James 6-3 and Russian duo Andrei Demin and Vladimir Grigoryev 6-0 in their last two round-robin doubles matches to finish top of Pool B unbeaten in four matches.

In Pool A of the men’s doubles, fourth seeds Mellor and Millar beat Czech Republic duo Jiri Humhal and Josef Hus 6-1.

However, Mellor and Millar lost out to top seed Graham and Phillips 6-1 to finish second to the Australians, who meet compatriots Holloway and James in the other semi-final.

Elsewhere on the third day of competition, Phillips and Kelly Wren set up an all-Australian mixed doubles semi-final against Graham and Carla Lenarduzzi, with Sebastien Faure and Elise Delvas of France se to take on Belgium’s Fens and Hanne Lavreysen in the other semi-final.

Meanwhile, Lenarduzzi and Wren booked their place in the women’s doubles final against Lies Gielis and Lavreysen.

10/04/17

Great Britain’s four team members completed a full house of nine wins in nine matches on the second day of singles and doubles round-robin contests at the 2017 INAS World Tennis Championships.

Fourth seed Fabrice Higgins and eighth seed Dominic Iannotti have yet to drop a game after three matches in Pool C and Pool B, respectively.

Fabrice Higgins defeated Vladimir Grigoryev 6-0 in his latest contest, with seventh seed Jakub Jerhot being the last pool Pool C opponent for Higgins on Tuesday. Iannotti raced past Tom Thierie of Belgium to maintain his perfect record and now faces Czech Republic second seed Ondrej Sedlisky in his last match in Pool B.

Arguably Tuesday’s performance of the day among the Brits belonged to Peter Millar, who won two matches to complete his Pool D round-robin contests. Before a 6-2 victory over Aurelian Vagner of France, Millar had earlier secured a crucial 7-6(9) victory over Czech Republic fifth seed Jiri Humhal, saving four match points to finish his four pool matches with three wins. The other four players in Pool D all have one match left.

Thomas Mellor’s latest Pool A match ended in a 6-0 victory over Sebastien Faure of France 6-0. With one loss on the opening day of play, Mellor now faces Belgium’s Jochen Fens in his fourth and last pool contest on Tuesday.

As the two British partnerships began their men’s doubles challenges fourth seeds Mellor and Millar beat French duo Faure and Vagner 6-3 and Poland’s Oskar Kosecki and Piotr Tomaszewski 6-0 in Pool A. Meanwhile, third seeds Higgins and Iannotti defeated Fens and Thierie and the Czech Republic’s Jakub Jerhot and Ondrej Sedlisky without dropping a game in either match.

Both British partnerships complete their doubles pool matches on Tuesday.

After the completion of the round-robin matches in the women’s singles, Australian top seed Kelly Wren and USA second seed Brittany Tagliareni are due to meet in the semi-finals, with the other semi-final being an all-Belgian contest between Lies Gielis and Hanne Lavreysen.

09/04/17

Great Britain’s four players won six of eight matches on Sunday’s opening day of round-robin pool contests at the 2017 INAS World Tennis Championships in Bolton.

With the men’s singles players starting their competition in four round-robin pools of five players, the first two round-robin matches in each pool ended with former World Champion Fabrice Higgins and Dominic Iannotti winning both of their matches.

Fourth seed Higgins defeated Poland’s Piotr Tomaszewski and Australia’s Damian Phillips without dropping a single game in Pool C. Meanwhile, in Pool B, eighth seed Iannotti beat Russia’s Andre Demin and Australia’s Joshua Holloway also with back-to-back 6-0 victories.

Peter Millar ended the first day of competition in Pool D with one win and one loss. Millar beat Poland’s Oskar Kosecki 6-0, but slipped to a 6-3 loss to Australian third seed Mitchell James. Former World Championships singles silver medallist Thomas Mellor completed day one with the same win-loss record in Pool A. Mellor defeated sixth seed Josef Hus of the Czech Republic 6-0, but lost out to Australian top seed Archie Graham 6-2.

The singles round-robin matches continue on Monday’s second competition The top two players in each pool will go through to the quarter-finals later in the week.

Monday’s schedule also sees third seeds Higgins and Iannotti and fourth seeds Mellor and Millar contest their opening men’s doubles round-robin matches.

PREVIEW: BRITS SET TO TAKE ON WORLD'S BEST IN BOLTON AT 2017 INAS WORLD TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS