GORDON REID has made the ideal start to his bid for a first Wimbledon wheelchair singles title since 2016.

The Helensburgh hero was handed the toughest possible start when the draw was made this week after he was paired with world number one, and top seed, Shingo Kunieda of Japan in the quarter-finals.

And the former Hermitage Academy pupil was left with a mountain to climb when he lost the first set 6-1 in Thursday's last eight tie.

But Reid, who won the traditional Wimbledon warm-up tournament at the Queen's Club in London last month, recovered superbly to take the second set 6-2 before winning the decider 6-3 in a tie lasting two hours and eight minutes.

READ MORE: How Gordon Reid triumphed in Queen's Club singles final with Wimbledon looming

Reid, whose place in the Paralympics GB squad for this summer's Games in Tokyo was confirmed in late June, faced Gustavo Fernandez - who he defeated in straight sets in that Queen's Club final - in the Wimbledon semi-finals after the Argentinian beat France's Nicolas Peifer 6-2, 6-4 in his own quarter-final tie on Thursday.

And the Scot won 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 on Friday to book his place in the final against either Peifer's fellow Frenchman Stephane Houdet or Belgium's Joachim Gerard.

Houdet saw off Dutchman Tom Egberink 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the last eight on Thursday, while Gerard pulled off a shock by beating Reid's doubles partner, fellow Brit Alfie Hewett, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Prior to the start of competition at the All England Club, Reid, who won the inaugural Wimbledon men's wheelchair singles title in 2016 but hasn't won a Grand Slam singles title since then, spoke of the importance of hitting the ground running.

READ MORE: Look back to our 2016 coverage of how Gordon Reid won Wimbledon's first men's wheelchair singles championship

The 29-year-old said: “I think you only need to look at past results and see how many of the guys in the Top 10 have beaten each other over the last couple of years.

"We all know there are no easy draws and you’ve got to be ready to go straight away.”

The Wimbledon wheelchair doubles tournament - in which Reid and Hewett are going for an incredible seventh Grand Slam tournament victory in a row, and a 12th Grand Slam title together overall - begins on Friday and sees Reid and Hewett take on Kunieda and Fernandez for a place in the final, with the other semi pitting Houdet and Peifer against Gerard and Egberink.

Reid's singles semi-final against Fernandez was the second of four ties scheduled for Court 17 at Wimbledon on Friday, with the British pair's doubles semi-final against Fernandez and Kunieda fourth on the order of play for the same court later in the day.

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