GB quads win fifth World Team Cup title in Sardinia as GB men claim silver

A successful week for the Great Britain squad selected and managed by the Tennis Foundation also saw the GB men’s team live up to their second seeding to claim the silver medal behind top seed France, who took the title after another deciding doubles rubber.

Andy Lapthorne, Antony Cotterill and James Shaw all played in in the quad final before Cotterill and Lapthorne won the crucial doubles rubber. The Great Britain men’s team of Gordon Reid, Alfie Hewett and Dermot Bailey were beaten 2-1 by France after a rematch of the Rio 2016 Paralympic men’s doubles final.

Shaw, representing Great Britain for just the second time at what is the wheelchair tennis equivalent of the Davis Cup, found London 2012 gold medallist Noam Gershony too strong in the opening singles rubber, Gershony winning 6-2, 6-1 to give Israel the lead.

However, world No. 3 Lapthorne levelled the final with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Shraga Weinberg and reigning Doubles Masters champions Cotterill and Lapthorne produced a sensational performance to beat London 2012 doubles bronze medallists Gershony and Weinberg 6-3, 6-0.

“It’s been a big team effort this week and it’s amazing to win wearing the GB vest again,” said Rio 2016 quad singles silver and quad doubles bronze medallist Lapthorne. “I’m also really pleased to end the week still unbeaten this year playing with Antony and we are looking forward to the challenges ahead.”

“It's been a great week, the team spirit has been really high and we have had some really good performances,” said Cotterill, who also joined Lapthorne in the Great Britain quad team that won a fourth title since 2001 in 2014. “Everyone has played a part, including the crowd. We knew today would be tough against Israel but we played some great tennis to finish with a comfortable win in doubles.”

“It was amazing to get picked for this highly successful GB team but to win the world title and also play in the final was a dream come true,” said Shaw.

With the men’s team hoping to seal an historic double of two World Team Cup titles in the same year for Great Britain, world No. 7 Alfie Hewett ensured a winning start to the final after defeating France’s world No. 5 Nicolas Peifer 6-3, 6-3.

World No. 1 Stephane Houdet forced the doubles rubber, beating world No. 2 Reid 6-4, 6-3 and Rio gold medallists Houdet and Peifer won an enthralling contest 6-3, 6-0 against Rio silver medallists Hewett and Reid.

“It’s a disappointing end to a great week as we came into the final unbeaten in all our matches this week and were confident we could regain the title we won in 2015,” said Reid. “However, Houdet and Peifer are not Paralympic champions for nothing and we will look to come back stronger.”

“Obviously I’m disappointed we couldn’t get a second World Team Cup title today, especially since we came in on the back of beating the French on a hard court for the first time last month,” said Hewett. “On a positive note I’m pleased to have remained unbeaten in singles all week and hopefully I can take this form forward for the rest of the season.”

Results and Draws
06/015/17

At the end of a fine week for a nine-strong squad of GB players selected and managed by the Tennis Foundation, Great Britain will contest two finals in Alghero on Sunday at what is the wheelchair tennis equivalent of the Davis Cup.

While Lapthorne, Cotterill and James Shaw will now represent Great Britain against Israel in the quad final, GB's Gordon Reid, Alfie Hewett and Dermot Bailey will also play France in the men’s final.

The men's final was postponed on Saturday due to a long-running women’s final.

Should Great Britain win both finals tomorrow it would mark the first ever time that Britain has taken both titles in the same year in the event's history.

World No. 8 Cotterill made a promising start to the quad semi-final, taking the opening set from Bryan Barten before the American came back to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Rio Paralympic silver medallist Andy Lapthorne levelled the tie for Great Britain as the world No. 3 gained a 6-4, 7-5 victory over world No. 2 David Wagner.

Cotterill and Lapthorne went on to claim a tense doubles rubber against Barten and Wagner, winning for the deciding match tiebreak 6-4, 6-7, (10-7).

“It feels fantastic to have won our semi-final today against the top seeded USA,” said Cotterill. “After Andy got the win over Wagner we were on a high going into the final rubber.  We fought hard as a team to come through, winning a tight match and spirits are high going into the final tomorrow against Israel.”

“It was great to get two big wins today and help the team to another World Team Cup final,” said Lapthorne. “I’m looking forward to trying to make it three World Team Cup wins for me, personally, tomorrow.”

Great Britain will now bid for a fifth World Team Cup quad title after previous victories in the event in 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2014. Great Britain also won the men’s title for the first time in 2015.

Results and Draws
 
05/05/17

Rio Paralympic gold and silver medallists Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett steered Great Britain into a second BNP Paribas World Team Cup men’s final in three years on Friday after winning both singles rubbers for a 2-0 semi-final victory over Poland in Alghero, Sardinia.

Great Britain will play France in Saturday’s final, with Reid and Hewett having also won both singles rubbers against France when Great Britain won an historic first men’s title at the International Tennis Federation’s flagship wheelchair tennis team event in 2015.

Reid and Hewett remain unbeaten so far this week, with world No. 7 Hewett opening Thursday’s semi-final with a convincing 6-0, 6-3 victory over former world No. 3 Tadeusz Kruszelnicki.
 
“Tomorrow will be one of our hardest tests and we are both going to need to be on our A-game,”   said 19-year-old Hewett, who won the first eight games against Kruszelnicki before fending off a comeback from the Pole.

“We are excited to be playing the French as they are the strongest team and top seeds and it would be fantastic if we could pull it out of the bag and cause an upset. Having experienced winning in Turkey in 2015 we are hungry to get another win for GB in this fantastic event.”

World No. 2 Reid was in similarly impressive form in the second singles rubber against Kamil Fabisiak, reeling off the first nine games before wrapping up a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
 
“We've been in great form as a team this week so far. Getting to the final and winning every match gives us a lot of confidence going in to tomorrow's final against the French,” said Reid. “We expect a much tougher challenge tomorrow but we are ready to step up our level and do our best to achieve what we came here for - to win the title.”

It was a fine day for the Great Britain squad selected and managed by the Tennis Foundation as the GB junior team gained their first victory of the week, beating Chile 2-0 to finish seventh.

World Team Cup debutant Alex Chaston won his first ever World Team Cup match on his debut in the event, defeating Eric Fritz 6-2, 7-6(3), while Ruairi Logan maintained his 100 per cent singles record for the week after beating Ezequiel Riveros 6-1, 6-0.
 
Results and Draws

04/05/17

Great Britain’s men’s and quad teams have reached the semi-finals of their respective events at the 2017 BNP Paribas World Team Cup after winning their final round-robin ties on Thursday to finish top of their pools in Alghero, Sardinia.

Alfie Hewett beat Martin Legner 6-1, 6-1 and Gordon Reid defeated Nico Langmann 6-3, 6-0 to give Britain an unassailable lead over Austria in Thursday’s third and last men’s Pool B round-robin contest. Dermot Bailey then partnered Reid to a narrow 6-1, 4-6, (10-6) victory over Langmann and Legner after a match tie-break in the doubles rubber.

“There have been a few close ties and upsets in the draw. GB have done a good job to finish top of the group without losing a match.  It’s a real confidence boost going into the semis,” said 19-year-old Hewett.

“There’s a good atmosphere in the camp, we are focussed on one match at a time and looking forward to the next one tomorrow.”

Great Britain will now play Poland in Friday's men's semi-finals in a bid to reach the final for the second time in three years.

The Great Britain quad team also finished top of Pool B in their event after a 3-0 victory over Korea and 2-1 wins over Canada and Japan.

Antony Cotterill dropped the opening singles rubber of Thursday’s contest against Japan as Shota Kawano prevailed 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 , but Lapthorne forced the doubles rubber after beating Mitsuteru Moroishi with a powerful display 6-0 6-0. Reigning Doubles Masters champions Cotterill and Lapthorne then won the doubles rubber against Kawano and Moroishi 6-3, 6-3.

“I’m really pleased with how the week has gone so far and I’m looking forward to another big match on Saturday,” said Lapthorne, who has been a part of two Great Britain teams that have won the World Team Cup quad title previously.

Great Britain play USA on Saturday in a bid to reach this year’s quad final.

Great Britain’s junior team of Ruairi Logan and World Team Cup debutants Alex Chaston and George Davies will play off for fifth to eighth places. All three of Great Britain’s junior round-robin contests against Brazil, Russia and Turkey have been decided in the doubles rubber, with 15-year-old Logan unbeaten so far in his three singles rubbers.

Logan beat Aysegul Zararsiz 6-0, 6-1 on Thursday to draw Great Britain level with Turkey after Oghuzan Gunes beat Davies 6-0, 6-0. The doubles decider was a thrilling contest but eventually Gunes and Zararsiz won the match tiebreak to defeat Davies and Logan 7-6(6), 2-6, (10-4). Great Britain juniors play Netherlands next.

Results and Draws

03/05/17

Great Britain’s men’s and quad teams continued in winning form on the second day of their pool contests at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup. Meanwhile, as Ruairi Logan stayed unbeaten in his singles rubbers, it was ultimately another tough day for Great Britain’s juniors.  .

Dermot Bailey, a member of Great Britain’s bronze medal-winning men’s team in 2016 alongside Alfie Hewett, made his debut in this year’s event with a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 win over Italy’s Ivan Tratter.

Gordon Reid subsequently gave Great Britain an unassailable lead over Italy after beating Silviu Culea 6-0, 6-2 and Hewett and Reid wrapped up a 3-0 victory when defeating Antonio Cippo and Silviu Culea 6-1, 6-0.

Great Britain’s men therefore now face Austria in their final Pool B tie, with the winners of the pool going forward to the semi-finals.

Great Britain’s quad team play Japan in their final Pool B match, too, after securing a 3-0 win over Korea on Wednesday.

Antony Cotterill beat Myung Je Kim 7-5, 6-4 and Andy Lapthorne defeated Kyu-Seung Kim 6-3, 6-1 to put the tie beyond Korea before Lapthorne partnered  James Shaw to secure a 7-6(3), 6-4 Great Britain victory over Kim and Kim.

Ruairi Logan raced to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Sergei Lysov in Great Britain’s second singles rubber in the junior Pool A tie against Russia.

But with 14-year-old Alex Chaston having lost his opening singles rubber to Aleksei Shuklin 6-0, 6-0, the doubles rubber also proved to be a tough proposition and Lysov and Shuklin beat George Davies and Logan 6-1, 6-1.

Great Britain’s juniors will therefore now play Turkey in their final pool tie to decide their position in the pool and their final play-off opponents.

Results and Draws

02/05/17

Great Britain’s men’s and quad teams got off to winning starts on Tuesday at the BNP Paribas World Cup as the GB men beat China 3-0 and the GB quads beat Canada 2-1.

Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid secured a comfortable victory over China in Pool B of the men’s event, Hewett beating Xiaomin Feng 6-1, 6-0 and Reid defeating Shunjiang Dong 6-4, 6-2 before the Rio Paralympic men’s doubles silver medallists teamed up to beat Dong and Jinhui Ding 6-4, 6-1 in the doubles rubber.

Antony Cotterill and Andy Lapthorne also gave Britain an unassailable lead after both singles rubbers against Canada in the opening Pool B tie in the quad event. Cotterill beat Sarah Hunter 7-5, 6-0 and Lapthorne earned a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Rob Shaw, but Britain were denied another 3-0 victory when Garry Luker and Rob Shaw beat Lapthorne and James Shaw 7-6(2), 6-1 in doubles.

Ruairi Logan, playing in his third successive World Team Cup for the Great Britain junior team, forced a deciding doubles rubber against Brazil after defeating Jucelio Torquato 7-5, 6-2. George Davies earlier made his Great Britain debut with a 6-0 6-0 loss to Fabio Bernardes. Alex Chaston also made his World Team Cup debut in the deciding doubles rubber, partnering Logan, but the Brits eventually lost out to Bernardes and Torquato 6-3, 6-2.

Results and Draws

01/05/17

Three teams represent Great Britain in the 2017 BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Sardinia.

Gordon Reid, Alfie Hewett and Dermot Bailey represent Great Britain in the men's event at the International Tennis Federation's flagship wheelchair tennis team event. Second seeds Great Britain have been drawn alongside Austria, China and Italy in Pool B and ad play China in their opening round-r0bin tie on Tuesday.

Andy Lapthorne, Antony Cotterill and James Shaw represent Great Britain in the quad event. Great Britain are second seeds and are drawn in Pool B along with Japan, Korea and Canada. Canada are Great Britain's first opponents on Tuesday.

Ruairi Logan, Alex Chaston and George Davies have been selected to represent Great Britain in the junior event. Great Britain's juniors begin their competition in Pool A and will face Brazil, Russia and Turkey in their three round-robin ties, with Brazil being the first opponents on Tuesday for the GB juniors team.

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Great Britain name 2017 BNP Paribas World Team Cup squad