Australian Open: Britain's Gordon Reid into wheelchair singles final
2020 Australian Open |
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Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 20 January to 2 February |
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and online; Live text on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app; Watch highlights on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. |
Britain’s Gordon Reid reached the final of the Australian Open men’s wheelchair event with victory over Joachim Gerard of Belgium.
The Scot, bidding for his first Grand Slam singles title since Wimbledon in 2016, won 6-4 7-5.
He will face top seed Shingo Kunieda in the final after the Japanese beat fellow Briton Alfie Hewett 6-3 6-3.
Britain’s Jordanne Whiley reached the women’s wheelchair doubles final with partner Yui Kamiji of Japan.
Whiley and Kamiji will play Dutch top seeds Diede De Groot and Aniek Van Koot in the final.
Elsewhere, Britain’s Andy Lapthorne was beaten by five-time champion Dylan Alcott in the quad wheelchair singles.
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World number one Lapthorne, playing his second match in the round-robin format, lost 7-5 6-1 in Melbourne.
He managed his only break of serve to level the first set at 5-5 but Australian Alcott took control and won eight of the last nine games.
Lapthorne had defeated David Wagner in his opening match on Wednesday.
Speaking before his defeat by Alcott, Britain’s Lapthorne said the Australian Open is “the number one country in the world to play wheelchair tennis”.
“They are smashing the glass ceiling for quad tennis in particular; accepting us, putting us on Centre Court for the final,” the 29-year-old told BBC 5 Live.
“I love coming here, they love wheelchair tennis, the way we are treated is fantastic.
“That would be a dream come true, to go on to Centre Court at a Grand Slam as world number one.”