Gérard upsets Houdet to take Wheelchair Tennis British Open singles title

By Gary Anderson

July 21 - Belgium's Joachim Gérard secured the biggest title of his career to date as he beat world number two Stéphane Houdet of France at the Wheelchair Tennis British Open singles final in Nottingham today.

World number six and fifth seed Gérard secured his first ever Super Series tour win by defeating Houdet 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

"It's amazing," he said.

"I've played amazing all week.

"I played a great first set.

"I only played two bad games.

"After the second set I focused more and managed to come back.

"It's an amazing feeling.

"I hope I can continue to take this into my future tournaments."

Houdet, who finished runner-up in the 2009 British Open final, got off to the worst possible start and trailed Gérard by five games to love eventually losing the first set 2-6.

The 42-year-old showed the battling qualities that saw him claim the French Open earlier this year, by coming back to take the second set 6-3 and force his Belgian opponent into a decider.

However, Gérard composed himself against his much more experienced opponent and got off to a flying start in the final set taking a 3-0 lead which eventually saw him claim the decider by 6-3.

Stepahane Houdet right congratulates his opponent Joachim Gerard following the mens singles final in Nottingham

Stéphane Houdet (right) congratulates his opponent Joachim Gérard following the mens singles final in Nottingham

In the women's doubles, Dutch pair Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot secured their third British Open title in succession with a straight sets win over fellow Dutchwoman Marjolein Buis and South Africa's Kgothatso Montjane.

The 6-2, 7-5 win added to their victory in the French Grand Slam and continues their run as the form pairing in women's doubles.

A relatively one-sided match in the quad doubles final saw Sarah Hunter of Canada and world number one David Wagner of the US despatch Britain's Antony Cotterill and American Greg Hasterok 6-1, 6-1.

"We just aimed to play well and we knew that if we played well we could take the title, so it's very nice to have got another of these British Open titles," said Wagner who lost out to Lucas Sithole of South Africa in the quad singles final the day before.