Britons make super start in St Louis
1st September 2010by Marshall Thomas
British players won all seven first round singles matches they were involved in during Tuesday's first day of the US Open USTA Wheelchair Tennis Championships in St Louis, the fifth and final Super Series event on the 2010 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
Lucy Shuker secured the most notable victory of the day as the British No 1 beat Belgian world No 8 Annick Sevenans 6-3, 6-1 in her opening women's singles match. After her second victory over Sevenans in the last month, world No 9 Shuker faces Dutch world No 2 Sharon Walraven in Wednesday's quarter-finals.
With Wednesday marking two years to go to the start of the wheelchair tennis competition at the London 2012 Paralympics, Jordanne Whiley faces Dutch world No 7 Jiske Griffioen in the last eight after the 18-year-old British No 2 edged past Chile's Maria Antonieta Ortiz 7-6(5), 7-6(1) in her opening match.
David Phillipson, Gordon Reid and Marc McCarroll all face world top 10 ranked seeded players in the second round of the men's singles after Britain's top three men's players all secured straight sets wins on Tuesday.
British No 1 Phillipson eased past American Russell Rodriguez 6-2 ,6-0 to set up a second round contest against Swedish world No 4 Stefan Olsson, while Reid defeated Chile's Robinson Mendez 6-3, 6-4 to earn a contest against Dutch world No 6 Ronald Vink. McCarroll will play French world No 3 Stephane Houdet on Wednesday after a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory over Japan's Yoshikatu Matsuura.
Jamie Burdekin will be the first opponent for fellow Briton Peter Norfolk as world No 2 Norfolk makes his return to competition on Wednesday after becoming a father for the second time. Burdekin, who partnered Norfolk to a quad doubles bronze medal at the Beijing Paralympics, continued his own return from injury with with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-2 victory over Canada's Adrian Dieleman on Tuesday, while second seed Norfolk had a first round bye along with Britain's other quad singles representative and sixth seed Andrew Lapthorne.