Women's top seed wins thrilling tie-break to maintain winning start to NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters

Jiske Griffioen defeated home favourite Jordanne Whiley to record her second straight win ©Twitter/NEC Masters

Top seed Jiske Griffioen overcame home favourite Jordanne Whiley in an epic women’s singles match to maintain her perfect start to the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters tournament at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London.

Both players had triumphed in the opening ties of the event for the top eight players in the world and the Dutch star looked on course to claim sole leadership of Group A, having taken the first set 6-3 against Whiley.

The British player claimed a crucial break of serve in the second to force a deciding set in front of a partisan home support.

There was little to separate the two players the match eventually would be settled in a mammoth tie-break, with Griffioen ultimately triumphing 16-14 to complete a three set 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 win.

Following her defeat, Whiley lies in second position in the group with her compatriot Lucy Shuker boosting her own chances of progression by beating Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock to record her first victory and move third in the standings.

Defending champion Aniek Van Koot, meanwhile, bounced back from losing her opening match by earning a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 over Japan’s Yui Kamiji to remain in contention for the semi-finals.

Her fellow Dutchwoman Marjolein Buis maintained her 100 per cent start, beating South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane 6-4, 6-2 in a meeting of the top two after the first day’s play.

Aniek Van Koot earned his first victory to keep her title defence alive ©Twitter/NEC Masters

America’s David Wagner continued to live up to his status as the top seed in the quad singles competition, overcoming South Africa’s Lucas Sithole to record his second straight win, which should prove enough to book a place in the final.

Wagner had earned the opening set 6-2 but the momentum began to swing into his rivals favour in the second with the South African winning 6-4, after several excellent quality shots, to take the match into a decider.

Sithole, however, was unable to maintain the high standard with Wagner dominating the remainder of the contest to win 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.

It was a similar story in the second group match of the day as Britain’s Andy Lapthorne allowed a first set lead to slip against Israel’s Itay Erenlib, before breezing through the final set to win 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

Belgium's Joachim Gerard produced one of the shock results of the day as he overcame the top seed Shingo Kunieda in the men's singles tournament.

Joachim Gerard ended Shingo Kunieda's unbeaten run to top Group A in the men's singles ©Twitter/ITF Wheelchair

Kunieda looked on course to extend his 77-match unbeaten run, dating back to January 2014, having taken the opening set 6-2 but the Japanese star was left stunned by a revival from Gerard, who came back to claim a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 win.

It saw him move to the top of Group A ahead of Kunieda, while Argentina's Gustavo Fernandez occupies third place having beaten Japan's Takashi Sanada 6-4, 6-2.

After defeating second seed Stephane Houdet in his opening match of the tournament, Britain's Gordon Reid was hoping of moving a step closer the semi-finals by beating another French opponent in Nicolas Peifer.

However, it was Peifer who would end the match with two wins to his credit as he saw off the Briton in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to head Group B.

His compatriot Houdet got his campaign back on track after an impressive performance saw him defeat The Netherlands' Maikel Scheffers 6-1, 6-4.