French Riviera Open 2023: Results & updates

Gordon Reid remains on course for what would be a third French Riviera Open men’s singles title after an excellent performance to beat Belgium’s world No.3 Joachim Gerard in the quarter-finals.

World No.9 Reid slipped 4-2 behind in the opening set of his last eight contest, but at 5-3 to Gerard down he saved four set points and went on to break Gerard to 30 on the second of three set points of his own.

Gerard, who had edged out British No.3 Ben Bartram 7-5 in the third set of their second round match, took the second set, but Reid built on a 4-0 lead in the decider to close out a 7-5, 0-6, 6-2 victory.

Reid, who beat Gerard for the 20^th time in 36 career matches, will now play Argentinian second seed and world No.4 Gustavo Fernandez for a place in the Sunday’s final.

However, Reid and Spain’s Martin de la Puente’s saw their men’s doubles campaign come to an end against Tom Egberink of the Netherlands and Frenchman Stephane Houdet, the fourth seeds.

Seemingly in good shape at 3-1 ahead in their doubles semi-final, Reid and De la Puente fought back from 5-3 down to level the opening set, but they could not sustain their comeback and Egberink and Houdet advance to the final 7-5, 6-3.

The quad doubles semi-finals saw Britain’s Andy Lapthorne and South Africa’s Donald Ramphadi, the new French Open champions, take Dutch top seeds Sam Schroder and Niels Vink to a deciding match tie-break for the second time in a week.

But whereas Lapthorne and Ramphadi were able to dominate their semi-final decider against Schroder and Vink at Roland Garros, they were unable to establish the same rapid start in Biot and Schroder and Vink eventually progressed to the final 6-3, 2-6, (10-7).

Gordon Reid provided the highlight among the British players on the third day of singles action at the French Riviera Open as the two-time men’s singles champion advanced to this year’s quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Guilhem Laget of France.

Hopes of an all-British quarter-final were boosted as Ben Bartram took world No.3 Joachim Gerard deep into a third set in their second round match. However, having led Gerard 3-2 in the final set, 17-year-old Bartram eventually succumbed to the more experienced Belgian 6-1, 0-6 7-5. Reid will now play Gerard for a place in the last four.

Andy Lapthorne raised hopes of a British semi-finalist in the quad singles after building on an early 3-1 lead to snatch the opening set against his doubles partner Donald Ramphadi. However, Ramphadi fought back to earn a last-four berth 5-7, 6-0, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Lucy Shuker’s title challenge in Biot came to an end as she bowed out after a 6-1, 6-2 women’s singles quarter-final loss to Japan’s world No.2 Yui Kamiji.

Doubles:

Reid also remains on track in his bid for a fourth French Riviera Open men’s doubles title. Having won the first of his current three doubles titles in Biot in 2018 partnering Spain’s Daniel Caverzaschi, it’s Caverzaschi’s countryman Martin de la Puente who he partners this year.

The top seeds booked their place in the semi-finals after defeating French duo Frederic Cattaneo and Nicolas Charrier 6-2, 6-1. They will now play fourth seeds Tom Egberink of the Netherlands and Stephane Houdet of France, who ended the hopes of Britain’s reigning US Open junior boys’ doubles champions Bartram and Dahnon Ward 6-1, 6-2.  

Andy Lapthorne and Lucy Shuker made confident starts to their singles campaigns on the second day of play in Biot after securing their places in the quad singles and women’s singles quarter-finals respectively.

Lapthorne, who won his second Roland Garros quad doubles title over the weekend in what was his first tournament partnering South Africa’s Donald Ramphadi, will play Ramphadi for a place in the quad singles semi-finals at the French Riviera Open after defeating Germany’s Maximillian Laudan 6-1, 6-2.

Shuker’s next women’s singles challenge will come against Japan’s world No.2 Yui Kamiji after the British women’s No.1 defeated 17-year-old world No.2-ranked junior Ksenia Chasteau 6-4, 6-2. Shuker managed to establish clear ground between herself and Chasteau at the end of the first set, while an early 3-1 lead formed the basis for a more straightforward second set.

Lapthorne and Shuker ended the day by opening their respective doubles campaigns, with contrasting results.

Lapthorne and Ramphadi beat Turkey’s Ahmet Kaplan and Italy’s Alberto Saja 6-3, 6-2 to progress to the quad doubles semi-finals, where their opponents are yet to be decided.

However, Shuker and Colombia’s Angelica Bernal were unable to build on a good start to their women’s doubles quarter-final against China’s Jinlian Huang and Japan’s Saki Takamuro, with the Asian duo eventually winning a deciding match tie-break to advance 2-6, 7-6(1), 10-5.

However, there was better news for Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward.who overcame Israeli duo Adam Berdichevsky and Sergei Lysov 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.  After differing fortunes in their singles matches on the opening day of play in Biot, Bartram and Ward bounced back from dropping a tight opening set against Israeli duo Adam Berdichevsky and Sergei Lysov. The reigning US Open junior doubles champions battled back from 3-1 down to 4-4 before being edged out of the first set, but they made few mistakes in the next two, eventually advancing to set up a quarter-final against fourth seeds Tom Egberink and Stephane Houdet. 

Ben Bartram became the first Briton to progress to the second round at the French Riviera Open before Gordon Reid joined the US Open junior champion in the last 16 of the men’s singles when his opponent retired after three games of the second set.

British No.3 Bartram made it three straight sets wins over Jasiak since the first of their three career meetings in February 2022, edging to a 6-4, 7-5 victory on this occasion to set up a second round contest against Belgium’s world No.3 Joachim Gerard.

On the back of winning his sixth Roland Garros doubles title and his fourth with Alfie Hewett on Saturday, British No.2 Reid began his bid to win a third French Riviera Open singles title in style, earning an early break before going on to establish a 6-2, 3-0 lead over fellow former world No.1 Maikel Scheffers, the player Reid also beat to reach the quarter-finals in Paris last week.  

Reid found a way to win a tricky third game in the second set and at 3-0 down Scheffers was forced to retire, Reid advances to a second round meeting with Guilhem Laget of France.

With the doubles draws made midway through the opening day of competition, Reid will partner Spain’s Martin de la Puente in the men’s doubles, while Bartram will pair up with fellow Brit and fellow US Open junior doubles champion Dahnon Ward, whose men’s singles progress ended early after a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Japanese fourth seed Takuya Miki.

Lucy Shuker and Andy Lapthorne both have byes through to the second rounds of the women’s singles and quad singles, respectively. Shuker will partner Colombia’s Angelia Bernal for the women’s doubles, while Lapthorne will resume his new partnership with South Africa’s Donald Ramphadi in the quad doubles, as they bid to follow up their first Grand Slam title as a team at Roland Garros.