Photo: Reg CaldecottJon Rydberg (USA)
Jon Rydberg, Lucy Shuker and Bryan Barten all upset the seedings to reach Friday’s men’s, women’s and quad singles finals at the Atlanta Open, a part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
Rydberg booked a place in the second ITF 1 Series final of his career, almost six years after reaching his first on Hilton Head Island, after beating fellow American and sixth seed Stephen Welch 63 64, to reverse his 60 64 loss to Welch only last week at the Texas Open.
Rydberg faces Dutch world No. 1 Maikel Scheffers in the final. Scheffers eased through the opening set of his semifinal against Australian third seed Ben Weekes, but had to come from 3-1 down in the second set before securing victory 61 64.
Last week’s Texas Open also saw Rydberg and Welch lose out to Australian duo Adam Kellerman and Weekes 60 63, but the American duo avenged that loss in their Atlanta semifinal. Second seeds Rydberg and Welch won 64 60 to set up a final against top seeds Marc McCarroll and Scheffers.
The British-Dutch duo, who are playing their first tournament together as a doubles partnership, eased to a 61 60 victory over Canada’s Philippe Bedard and Masahiro Honma of Japan in their semifinal.
Shuker upsets Walraven to earn final berth against Griffioen
Like Rydberg, Lucy Shuker also went into her women’s singles semifinal unseeded, but the world No. 13 went on to gain her second career win over Dutch world No. 9 Sharon Walraven.
Shuker prevailed 46 62 64 over third seed Walraven and will take on top seed Jiske Griffioen of the Netherlands in the final after the world No. 3 eased to a 60 62 win over Britain’s Jordanne Whiley.
Shuker has beaten second seed Annick Sevenans of Belgium as well as Walraven en route to the women’s singles final and Shuker and Whiley will face top seeds Sevenans and Walraven in the women’s doubles final.
Barten reaches quad singles final as Taylor and Wagner seal another doubles title
Third seed Bryan Barten secured his first career win on the NEC Tour over fellow American and world No. 5 Nick Taylor to reach the quad singles final.
World No. 9 Barten won the last three games of the match the clinch a 63 64 victory over second seed Taylor.
Another all-American contest will see Barten play world No. 1 David Wagner in the final after Wagner dropped just one game in the second set of his semifinal against fourth seed Greg Hasterok.
It was a busy day for Taylor and Wagner, who also played both their quad doubles semifinal and final, but ultimately completed the event with another title to add to their phenomenal record together. Taylor and Wagner beat Barten and Hasterok 46 60 61 in the final.