HELENSBURGH'S Gordon Reid is one step closer to what he hopes will be a remarkable seventh US Open wheelchair doubles championship - and a sixth in seven years alongside partner Alfie Hewett - after the British pair made a successful start to their title tilt at Flushing Meadows.

The top seeds didn't have an easy time of it in their quarter-final tie on Wednesday against Joachim Gerard of Belgium and Dutchman Mikael Scheffers - but the Brits still had enough in their tank to see off their opponents in straight sets, winning 7-5, 6-3 on Court 12 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre.

Speaking after the match, the former Hermitage Academy pupil said: “Maikel played a really solid match today. He didn’t give us much (pace to work off) and you had Jo on the other side of the court, who was being more of the aggressor and taking the ball on, so it was difficult to find a rhythm.

"We had tough conditions, as well with a little bit of wind, the humidity and the heat, so it took us a bit of time to find our way but once we got flowing we produced some good tennis.”

The win earned them a semi-final against France's Stephane Houdet and Takashi Sanada of Japan, who were pushed all the way in their last eight tie against the Dutch pairing of Tom Egberink and Ruben Spaargaren before winning a deciding set tie-break 10-7.

Reid and Hewett are aiming to recapture the crown they lost in 2022, a year in which the former Hermitage Academy pupil's competitiveness was hampered by injury problems - though they still reached the final last year before eventually losing to Spain's Martin de la Puente and Nicolas Peifer of France.

Prior to that, though, the British duo had won five US Open doubles titles on the bounce - three of those coming in an incredible run of 10 successive Grand Slam crowns.

They're now just one match away from what would be a remarkable 17th Grand Slam doubles final in a row. 

But they'll need to be wary of potential banana skins after the doubles quarter-finals threw up a big surprise - not the first of this year's wheelchair event - when the second seeds, de la Puente and Argentina's Gustavo Fernandez, were eliminated in straight sets, losing 6-7(3), 4-6 to the unseeded Japanese pair of Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda.

Wednesday's other quarter-final tie saw Alex Cataldo of Chile - who was beaten by Reid in the first round of the wheelchair singles on Tuesday - and American Casey Ratzlaff beat Daisuke Arai (Japan) and Conner Stroud (USA) 6-2, 7-5.

But today (Thursday) will be a busy day for Reid, who is due to face de la Puente in the singles quarter-finals on Court 15 before teaming up with Hewett for their last four doubles tie on the Louis Armstrong Stadium court.

According to the official US Open tournament schedule, the 31-year-old's singles tie is due to get under way at 2pm local time on Thursday, with his doubles match beginning no earlier than 4pm (7pm and 9pm respectively, UK time).