Invacare doubles masters

Kunieda and Houdet win Mens Invacare Doubles Masters 2012

Fourth seeds Stephane Houdet (FRA) and Shingo Kunieda (JPN) clinched their first Invacare Doubles Masters men’s title on Sunday after storming back from a set down to overcome second seeds Gordon Reid (GBR) and Ronald Vink (NED) 67(6) 62 61.

Dutch top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot had a more straightforward ride to the women’s title as they defeated third seeds Sabine Ellerbrock (GER) and Yui Kamiji (JPN) 60 63, while American top seeds Nick Taylor and David Wagner won the quad doubles title for the sixth time.

The first set in the men’s final swung one way and then the other, with neither team leading by more than one game. However, at 6-5 up Reid and Vink had three set points on Kunieda’s serve, only to make a series of unforced errors as the No. 4 seeds saved all three to force a tiebreak.

Houdet and Kunieda then got the better of the exchanges at the start of the tiebreak and had four set points at 6-2, but Reid and Vink showed tremendous spirit as they reeled off the next six points to claim the first set. Vink saving the fourth set point they faced when he slotted a forehand winner down the centre of the court between Houdet and Kunieda.

After the drama of the first set Reid and Vink managed to win just two games in the second set, despite some close exchanges as Houdet and Kunieda forced a decider.

The French-Japanese pairing maintained their momentum to build another 5-1 lead before Kunieda finally served for the match on his and Houdet’s first match point after two hours 25 minutes.

Victory brought Houdet his second Doubles Masters title, while also completing a memorable two weeks for Kunieda after he won his first NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters title in Belgium followed by his first Invacare Doubles Masters title in Amsterdam. The Invacare Doubles Masters are moving to a new venue in 2013.

Top seeds Griffioen and van Koot claim women's title 

Victory in the women’s doubles brought the curtain down on a highly successful 2012 for Griffioen and van Koot.

The Wimbledon and British Open champions, who won the silver medal in the women’s doubles at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, ensured that they went one better at the Invacare Doubles Masters than in 2011 when they were runners-up.

Griffioen and Van Koot dominated their match against Invacare Doubles Masters debutantes Ellerbrock and Kamiji and ended 2012 having won six tournaments together.

Taylor and Wagner win sixth quad doubles title

After losing the first set of their round-robin pool match to second seeds Antonio Raffaele of Italy and Shraga Weinberg of Israel on Thursday, Taylor and Wagner made a much better start against the same opponents in the final.

After both partnerships had exchanged service breaks in the first three games of the first set, Taylor and Wagner established a 4-1 lead and while Raffaele and Weinberg had chances to reduce the defecit to 4-2, the American defending champions proved too good and stretched their lead to 5-1.

Taylor and Wagner created two set points in the seventh game. Weinberg saved the first with a forehand winner down the line, but Taylor then delivered a high looping forehand towards Raffaele and the ball bounced out of reach of the Italian, for whom it was the second Invacare Doubles Masters final in successive years.

Raffaele and Weinberg led the second set briefly at 2-1, but Taylor and Wagner broke serve to make it 4-2 and although the Italian-Israeli duo saved two match points at 5-3, Taylor and Wagner finally converted their third match point to seal their sixth Doubles Masters 61 64.

Jeremiasz/Olsson and Shuker/Sevenans win play-offs

After winning the Invacare Doubles Masters title in 2011 with Dutchman Tom Egberink, Michael Jeremiasz had to settle for third place this year with another former champion, Stefan Olsson of Sweden.

Jeremiasz and Olsson shot to a 4-0 lead in the first set of their play-off against Frederic Cattaneo of France and Joachim Gerard of Belgium before completing a 63 62 victory.

Belgium’s Annick Sevenans signed off her wheelchair tennis career with a win as she partnered Lucy Shuker of Great Britain to third place in the women’s doubles. The match featured a British player on both sides of the net as Jordanne Whiley combined with Katharina Kruger of Germany to come back from 3-1 down to level the first set with Sevenans and Shuker at 3-3. Sevenans and Shuker held on and then established a healthy 5-1 second set lead en route to wrapping up a 64 62 win.