By Tara Murray
Some of the world’s best wheelchair tennis players converged on Craigieburn last week.
Hume Tennis and Community Centre hosted the Melbourne Wheelchair Tennis Open as a lead-up event to the Australian Open this week.
It’s the fourth year that the centre has hosted the world class event.
In the men’s singles, number one seed and world number one Shingo Kunieda took out the event.
He had to do it the hard way, beating the number two seed Gustavo Fernandez in three sets, 6-2 6-7 7-5.
The final was the first time Kunieda had dropped a set for the event.
Kunieda’s Japanese compatriot Yui Kamiji took out the women’s singles event.
Kamiji, the number two seed, beat world number one Diede De Groot.
The match was a thriller, with Kamiji winning in a final set tie-breaker, 3-6 7-5 7-6.
De Groot didn’t go home empty-handed, winning the women’s doubles with fellow Dutch player Aniek Van Koot.
They defeated Chinese pair Hui Min Huang and Zhenzhen Zhu in straight sets, 6-4 6-2.
In the men’s doubles, Belgium’s Joachim Gerard and Sweden’s Stefan Olsson defeated France’s number one seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer 6-3 7-6.
In the boy’s singles, number two seed Riley Dumsday defeated top seed Finn Broadbent 6-2 6-2 in the battle of the Aussies.
Photo Gallery: Melbourne Wheelchair Tennis Open
