By David Gold

Stephane Houdet_French_Open_June_2012June 8 - Frenchman Stephane Houdet claimed his first Grand Slam title on home soil at Roland Garros with a victory over Japan's four time champion Shingo Kunieda.


Houdet was 4-0 down in the final set after the first two were shared, 6-2, 2-6.

He fought back to the take the set to a tie breaker, and claimed victory to win his maiden grand slam as well as climb to the top of the world rankings.

Houdet reached the final after beating Dutchman Ronald Vink in the last four by a score of 6-1, 6-3.

Four-time champion Kunieda defeated reigning champion Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands in the quarter finals of the tournament 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.

He then overcame Sweden's Stefan Olsson 6-0, 6-2 to reach the final.

Esther Vergeer (pictured) unsurprisingly won in the women's singles as she dominated her final with world number two and Dutch compatriot Aniek van Koot.

Esther Vergeer_French_Open_June_2012
It took her just 44 minutes to win without dropping a game, and was her second successive whitewash after she beat another Dutchwoman, Sharon Walraven, in the semi finals.

Vergeer has now won six of her last eight grand slam finals without dropping a game.

The 30-year-old has not lost since 2003 and has gone over 450 matches without a defeat.

Van Koot had reached the final by beating Jiske Griffioen in a semi final line up made up exclusively of Dutchwomen.

The stars of the wheelchair tennis tour will next travel to Wimbledon at the end of the month as they look to build momentum ahead of London 2012.

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