Wheelchair Masters 2022: Daily updates & results

Alfie Hewett is through to the singles final after Japan's Shingo Kunieda was forced to withdraw with injury, giving the reigning champion a walkover.

Hewett will face Tokito Oda final on Sunday.

Alfie Hewett booked his place in the semi-finals of the singles with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Japan's Takuya Miki.

Hewett has made a strong start to his title defence in winning his round-robin singles group to set up a clash with familiar rival and world No.2 Shingo Kunieda.

However, it wasn't to be for Hewett and Britain's Ben Bartram in the doubles after both Norfolk natives lost of in the semi-finals of the doubles.

Hewett and Maikel Scheffers end their semi-final on the wrong side of a match tie-break for the second time this week, losing out to Dutch duo Tom Egberink and Ruben Spaargaren 6-3, 4-6, 10-5.

Meanwhile, Bartram and Tokita Oda lost out to Martin de la Puente and Gustavo Fernandez 6-2, 6-2 in the semis in Oss.

Ben Bartram and Tokito Oda finished top of their men's doubles round-robin group after beating the Anglo-American partnership of Dahnon Ward and Casey Ratzlaff 6-2, 6-3 in the last of Wednesday's three matches featuring British players.

Bartram and Oda finish ahead of Alfie Hewett and Maikel Scheffers by virtue of having beaten the second seeds in a deciding match tie-break in their head-to-head contest.

However, Hewett and Scheffers returned to winning ways on the last day of men’s doubles group matches to book their place in the semi-finals.

Second seeds Hewett and Scheffers won the last two games of the opening set and dropped just the fourth game of the second set to eased to a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Lucy Shuker's hopes of reaching another Doubles Masters final came to an end on the fourth day of play in Oss.

Shuker & Zhenzhen Zhu saved a string of set points in the opening set and held a 2-0 second set lead against Yui Kamiji & Kgothatso Montjane, but ultimately the second sets ran out 6-2, 6-2 winners in a match to decide which pair advanced to the women's doubles semis.

Alfie Hewett and Ben Bartram made the headlines on the third day of play in Oss as Hewett made it two wins from two matches in the men’s singles. However, the British No.1’s unbeaten doubles record with Dutchman Maikel Scheffers came to an end after a sensational result for the rookie partnership of Bartram and Oda.

Hewett booked his place in the men’s singles semi-finals after defeating Oda 6-2, 7-5, needing seven match points in the last game to repel the young Japanese. Hewett now has won last singles group match left against Oda’s countryman Takuya Miki.

Roles were reversed in the second set of round-robin group matches in the men’s doubles after the first-time partnership of Bartram and Oda raced to a 5-0 first set lead over Hewett and Scheffers, who had stretched their unbeaten doubles sequence to 10 matches in their opening contest in Oss.  The second seeds dominated the second set, but Bartram and Oda proved more consistent in the latter stages of the deciding match tie-break to prevail 6-2, 1-6, (10-6) to book their ticket to the semi-finals and leave Hewett and Scheffers needing to beat Japanese duo Daisuke Arai and Kouhei Suzuki.

With three Brits in the same men’s doubles round-robin group, Dahnon Ward’s hopes of advancing with his partner Casey Ratzlaff ended after a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Arai and Suzuki.

Lucy Shuker’s hopes of progressing beyond the group stage took another knock after a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Dutchwoman Aniek van Koot, while Shuker and Zhenzhen Zhu’s hopes of advancing to the women’s doubles semis will depend on the outcome of their remaining match against second seeds Yui Kamiji and Kgothatso Montjane.

With just two doubles matches involving British players on the second day of play in Oss, it was a good day for Norfolk duo Alfie Hewett and Ben Bartram, Britain’s top ranked senior and junior players.

Unbeaten in three tournaments together between 2014 and 2017, Hewett and Dutchman Maikel Scheffers stretched their match record as a doubles partnership to 10-0 after defeating Dahnon Ward and the USA’s Casey Ratzlaff 6-1, 6-2.

With Ward making his Doubles Masters debut, he and Ratzlaff won the opening game of their round-robin group match, but second seeds Hewett and Scheffers ultimately made their experience tell.

All three Brits contesting the men’s doubles are drawn in round-robin Group B, with Bartram, the recently crowned ITF Junior Player of the Year, partnering Japan’s Tokito Oda, the winner of the same award in 2021, for the first time. The world’s top two ranked junior players made a tremendous start, beating the all-Japanese partnership of Daisuke Arai and Kouhei Suzuki 6-2, 6-1.

Alfie Hewett made a confident start to his men’s title defence at this year’s Singles Masters after defeating Martin de la Puente of Spain in straight sets, but it was to be for Lucy Shuker and Andy Lapthorne on the opening day of play in Oss.

Top seed Hewett beat British Open finalist De La Puente 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 22 minutes in the first of this three round-robin group matches, with matches against Japan’s Tokito Oda and Takuya Miki to come.

Shuker had a tough start to her ninth Singles Masters challenge, her first of three group matches ending in a 6-0, 6-0 loss to world No.2 Yui Kamiji of Japan. Shuker will now play two other former Masters champions, Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, Lapthorne made a good start to his opening quad singles group match against Australian Heath Davidson, the player he beat in this year’s British Open final, but after dropping seven games in a row Lapthorne had to retire when trailing 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Monday’s second day of play will see the start of the Doubles Masters group matches, when Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward will make their debuts at the year-end championships.