This Week Next Week
Netherlands repeats World Team Cup double
Netherlands retained its men’s and women’s titles
at the 2006 Invacare World Team Cup, the ITF’s flagship
wheelchair tennis event, in Brasilia, Brazil. For the first
time in the event’s history, all four titles were successfully
defended, with USA retaining its quad title, and Belgium winning
the junior event.
The men’s competition was once again divided into two
groups of 16 nations. In World Group 1, all eight seeded nations
reached the quarterfinals, where in a minor upset fifth seed
Austria overcame fourth seed Japan 2-1. The top two seeds,
Netherlands and France, went on to contest the final, where
Stephane Houdet, in his first year of wheelchair tennis, defeated
Maikel Scheffers 64 75 to give the French the lead. World
No. 2 Robin Ammerlaan then recovered from a set down to beat
World Champion Michael Jeremiasz 26 63 75, before partnering
compatriot Ronald Vink to a 64 64 win over Jeremiasz and Frederic
Cazeaudumec to secure Netherlands’ fifth men’s
title.
There was a strong South American presence in men’s
World Group 2, with Brazil defeating Argentina 2-0 in the
final. Both nations earn promotion to World Group I in 2007.
In the women’s event, where Great Britain was the only
first round seeding casualty, second seed Switzerland needed
a deciding doubles rubber in all three of its victories, over
Poland, Korea and France, to reach the final. In contrast
18- time champion Netherlands sailed through to the final
without the loss of a set. In a repeat of the 2003 final,
Jiske Griffioen overcame Sandra Kalt 64 61, before World Champion
Esther Vergeer whitewashed Karin Suter-Erath 60 60 to give
the Dutch its 19th title.
Defending quad champion USA won all three of its round-robin
matches 3-0 to reach the final for the seventh time in nine
years. The other group was much closer, with second seed Italy
scoring 2-1 victories over Sweden and three-time champion
Israel to reach its first final. The final proved another
comfortable win for USA, with Nick Taylor defeating Antonio
Raffaele 61 62, and world No. 1 David Wagner overcoming Giuseppe
Polidori 61 60 to secure a record fourth title for the Americans.
In the junior event, Belgium and Australia both reached the
final with three group wins, although the Australians were
taken to a deciding doubles by Netherlands. In a keenly contested
final, Mike Denayer defeated Dylan Alcott 63 46 64 to give
the defending champion the lead, before Michael Esler scored
a first ever win over Joachim Gerard 61 26 63 to level the
tie. Denayer and Gerard then overcame Alcott and Esler 63
76(5) to retain the title for Belgium.
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