HELENSBURGH’S Gordon Reid secured his first singles title of 2018 with victory at the Korea Open in Seoul.

The world number five, and top seed at the tournament, didn’t drop a set in his four matches at the city’s Olympic Park venue as his preparations for the French Open at Roland Garros next month, and Wimbledon from July 12-15, gather pace.

After a first-round bye in the Korea tournament, the Burgh star saw off the host nation’s Myung-Ho Bae without losing a game in round two, before beating Japan’s Satoshi Saida 6-1 7-6 (6-3) in the last eight.

Reid then defeated Australia’s Ben Weekes, the tournament’s fourth seed, 6-4 6-4 in the semi-final before hitting top gear with a crushing 6-0 6-0 victory over second seed Takashi Sanada of Japan in the final.

Speaking immediately after the final, Reid said: “I’m very pleased with the performance today against a top level opponent. I played positively and was clinical throughout the match.

“It’s great preparation for the start of a busy summer season.”

And Reid kept his run of Far East form going in the early part of this week, seeing off Thailand’s Sunthorn Sridang 6-0 6-0 in the first round of the ITF Super Series Japan Open in Iizuka before dispatching Ho Won Im of Korea 6-1 6-2 in the second round.

Ranked fourth seed in the Japan Open, Reid was due to take on old foe Nicolas Peifer of France, seeded fifth, in the quarter-finals after this issue of the Advertiser went to press.

The winner of that tie was set to face either Alfie Hewett, Reid’s long-term doubles partner and the tournament’s top seed, or Sweden’s Stefan Olsson in the last four.

Meanwhile, having concentrated purely on the singles competition in Korea, Reid was back in doubles action alongside Hewett at the Japan Open this week, with the top-seeded pair easing past the host nation pairing of Kenji Tomoeda and Takashi Tsumagari 6-0 6-0 in the first round.

As reported in the Advertiser last week, both Reid and Hewett have been invited to compete in the first-ever wheelchair tournament at the Fever-Tree Championships at the Queen’s Club in London next month.

Five of the world’s top 10 men’s wheelchair tennis players will take part in the competition over the final three days of the traditional Wimbledon curtain-raiser, which runs from June 18-24.