HELENSBURGH wheelchair tennis hero Gordon Reid made history in the early hours of Tuesday when he and fellow Brit Alfie Hewett won their 10th Grand Slam doubles title.

The duo claimed their second successive Australian Open men’s doubles wheelchair tennis title together as they secured a record-equalling 10th career Grand Slam title with a 7-5, 7-6(3) victory over French second seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer at Melbourne Park.

For Reid it was a third Australian Open doubles title since 2017 as he and Hewett joined Laurie and Reginald Doherty as Britain’s most successful Grand Slam doubles partnership of all time – the brothers having won their 10 titles between 1897 and 1905.

Little separated the two partnerships throughout the men’s doubles final, but Reid held serve for a 6-5 lead in the opening set and Hewett put away a forehand drive volley on the first of their two set points in the next game.

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Hewett’s forehand continued to win crucial points towards the business end of the second set, but it was a sublime Hewett backhand down the line that finally put the seal on an historic victory.

The former Hermitage Academy pupil said afterwards: “The first I heard of it [the record] was Alfie telling me after the match point, which was a surprise to me.

“Obviously it’s been an amazing ride. When we first started playing with each other, Alfie was just a young kid coming up, finishing school. I think I was number one in the world doubles at the time.

“It was a bit of gamble, to be honest, at that stage – but obviously one that I’m happy I took. It’s paying off nicely for us now.”

Hewett, who lost out to Joachim Gerard in the men's singles final on Wednesday, said: “It feels amazing, To go back-to-back, it’s an awesome feeling, especially with the situation at the moment, not knowing how many opportunities we’re going to have to compete this year.

“Gordon really kept us together in this match. His level was consistently high. His movement around the court was really, really good.

“I was a bit wobbly at times, I came in and out. But as a pair, we were really clinical when it mattered.”

The British pair secured their place in the final with a 6-1, 4-6, 10-7 win over Shingo Kunieda and Gustavo Fernandez in the last four – having seen their remarkable 16-match, seven-tournament winning streak brought to an end by the Japanese-Argentinian duo in the lead-in to the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.

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