GORDON REID ended a memorable year on the tennis court in style when he won the fourth NEC Wheelchair Masters doubles title of his career at the weekend.
The Helensburgh hero and his long-time doubles partner Alfie Hewett surged to victory in Florida after defeating Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer in straight sets in the final.
The result was some small measure of revenge for the British pair – who didn’t drop a single set in their five matches in Orlando – after they lost out to the French duo in the gold medal match at the Paralympics in Tokyo in September.
Reid and Hewett, among the players supported by the Lawn Tennis Association’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Pathway, once again proved a dominant force as doubles partners to complete a year that saw them take their tally of Grand Slam titles to 13 and become the first men’s doubles wheelchair tennis pair to complete the calendar Grand Slam.
The top seeds won all three of their group matches at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, losing just five games as they despatched Dutchmen Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers 6-4, 6-0, Chilean Alexander Cataldo and the host nation’s Casey Ratzlaff 6-0, 6-0, and Americans Chris Herman and Conner Stroud 6-1, 6-1.
The Brits – returning Stateside for the first time since the US Open triumph at Flushing Meadows in September which completed that calendar Grand Slam and won them an eighth Grand Slam title in a row – had a tougher time of it in the semi-final, eventually seeing off Ruben Spaargaren of the Netherlands and Belgium’s Jef Vandorpe 7-6(6), 6-3.
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But there was no stopping them in the final as they surged past second seeds Houdet and Peifer 6-4, 6-1.
Reflecting on the final, the former Hermitage Academy pupil, for whom it was a second Masters doubles title with Hewett, but a fourth title overall, said: “I think we picked it up at the start of the second set.
“We had a couple of tight games and it was quite important that we won a couple of games against the wind early on, because it was difficult down one end of the court. But apart from the 4-0 game we closed it out pretty well. It was cold and it was windy and pretty quiet, being so late, so we were glad to get it over with in straight sets.
“We were patient and we built the points pretty well. Against the wind we hit out well and defended well, and those were key to the win.”
With eight of the world’s top players qualifying for the singles, Hewett and Reid were drawn in the same round-robin group.
Hewett finished top of the group unbeaten in his three matches, and Reid also advanced to the semi-finals in second place.
The 30-year-old saw off Peifer 6-4, 6-3 and Spain’s Martin de la Puente 6-3, 6-4, with his only group loss coming against Hewett, who won their clash 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
However, Reid’s hopes of setting up a repeat of the 2017 Masters final between the two Brits ended in his semi-final, which Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez won 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-0.
Hewett won the men’s singles title, defeating Fernandez 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-4 in a closely-fought final.
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