Gordon Reid and Jordanne Whiley taste French Open success
Sunday 5 June 2016 11:16, UK
Wheelchair tennis stars Gordon Reid and Jordanne Whiley had a successful day at Roland Garros, winning the men's and women's doubles events respectively, with their Japanese partners.
Reid teamed-up with Shingo Kunieda to take the men's title, while Whiley partnered Yui Kamiji in the women's.
Second seeds Reid and Kunieda raced into 3-0 leads in both sets against Frenchman Michael Jeremiasz and Stefan Olsson of Sweden before sealing a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory to retain their title.
Reid said: "I'm pretty tired but feeling good after that. It was a high quality match with a really good crowd and I was proud I could refocus and come back and win the doubles title."
His attempts to win the singles crown had earlier come to an end with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 loss to Argentinian Gustavo Fernandez.
Reid added: "It's been a good week to get this far and get to back-to-back Grand Slam singles finals. I wasn't good enough and he was very strong in his hitting zone and he was hitting his backhand really well.
"He had all the momentum in the second set and was very aggressive. It's a massive disappointment as these are the matches you want to win most of all.
"But it's still good for gaining confidence ahead of Rio and enjoying more experience of playing in front of big crowds in important matches."
As for Whiley and Kamij, they were pushed all the way by Dutch top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot.
From 3-5 down in the deciding tie-break, Whiley and Kamiji won seven of the next eight points to successfully regain the title they won for the first time in 2014.
Whiley and Kamiji are now seven-time Grand Slam doubles champions, having won two Australian Opens, two Roland Garros titles, two at Wimbledon and one at the US Open.
Whiley said: "It's been a very successful week in the end with another Grand Slam title and finishing off with an ace.
"I put myself in with a really good chance to be in the singles final here and even though I didn't make it, I feel positive about how my game is going.
"I'm really confident for Wimbledon now and even though the grass can be tough, like clay, I can't wait to play singles and doubles there and do everyone proud."
