Reid chases more doubles glory at Melbourne Open

Gordon Reid remains on track for back-to-back men’s doubles titles with Gustavo Fernandez after the pair progressed to the semi-finals at the Melbourne Wheelchair Tennis Open.

Paralympic champion Reid and his Argentine partner, the second seeds, overcame Takashi Sanada of Japan and Australian Ben Weekes 6-2 6-2 in their quarter-final clash.

The duo, who claimed the Bendigo Open title last week, will now face third seeds Joachim Gerard of Belgium and Sweden’s Stefan Olsson in the last four as they close in on more silverware.

It was a different story for Reid in the men’s singles, though, as he was knocked out by doubles partner Fernandez in their quarter-final earlier in the day.

Sixth seed Reid, who won Paralympic singles gold and doubles silver at Rio 2016, had received a bye in the first round before breezing past Spain’s Martin De La Puente 6-3 6-2 in the second round.

But his run came to a halt after Fernandez, the second seed, came out on top in a hard-fought last-eight battle, prevailing 6-4 7-6 to set up a semi-final against Stephane Houdet of France.

Elsewhere, three-time Paralympic medallist Andy Lapthorne showed his good form ahead of the Australian Open after winning two from two in the round robin stage of the quad singles.

The 28-year-old, who won silver and bronze at Rio 2016, beat Australia’s Heath Davidson 6-3 6-3 before seeing off world No.4 Koji Sugeno of Japan 6-2 6-3.

He was the only player to finish the second day of the quad singles with two victories, but he had no match on Thursday as doubles partner and top seed David Wagner defeated Davidson 6-7 7-5 6-1.

Meanwhile, three-time Paralympian Lucy Shuker went out of the women’s singles in the opening round to top seed Diede De Groot of the Netherlands, losing 6-4 6-2.

She had more success in the women’s doubles with Japan’s Manami Tanaka, winning their quarter-final match against Wanitha Inthanin and Sakhorn Khanthasit of Thailand 6-3 6-3.

But the British-Japanese pair were beaten in the semi-finals by the top seeds De Groot and compatriot Aniek Van Koot, who progressed to the final with a 6-0 6-3 win.