HELENSBURGH wheelchair tennis star Gordon Reid proved that a change of partner is no barrier to success on court when he triumphed in the Sardinia Open on Saturday.

Fresh from his US Open doubles triumph alongside fellow Brit Alfie Hewett at the beginning of this month, Reid lined up alongside Belgium’s Joachim Gerard to win the men’s doubles crown at Alghero.

The duo began their campaign with a straightforward 6-0, 6-1 win over the Swiss pair of Herbert Keller and Thomas Suter, before seeing off Luca Arca of Italy and Greece’s Stefanos Diamantis 6-0, 6-2 in the quarter-finals.

That set up Reid and Gerard, the tournament’s second seeds, for a stylish 6-1, 6-1 defeat of third seeds Daniel Caverzaschi of Spain and Japan’s Takashi Sanada.

But with both halves of the draw very much going according to the form book, Reid and Gerard knew they would have to be at the very top of their game to win the final against top seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer of France – the pair to whom Reid and Hewett lost two years ago in the final of the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

However, that proved to be a standard the Helensburgh star and his Belgian playing partner were more than capable of living up to: they won a tightly-contested first set 7-6 on a tie break, but with the wind in their sails took the second 6-2 to secure the title – and some very fetching plates as their trophies.

Sadly, Reid was unable to make it two titles in one tournament: he reached the final of the singles after beating Davide Nevola, Arca, Caverzaschi and Peifer, only to lose 6-4, 6-1 to Houdet.