'Focus was important': Schroder, De Groot, Hewett win at Cajun Classic
Sam Schroder singled out his mental focus as the key ingredient in securing his first Cajun Cassic quad singles title on Sunday, as Alfie Hewett and Diede de Groot added to their title tallies at the second Super Series tournament on the 2024 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour in Baton Rouge.
“Today had a lot of ups and downs and at times emotions were running high, but it’s been a very good week,” said Schroder after beating fellow Dutchman and world No.1 Niels Vink 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the quad singles final to extend his unbeaten start to 2024 to 12 matches and three tournaments.
“We had a great off season, where we put a lot of hours in to achieve results such as the AO and this one, as well. The most important thing is to be able to show it during matches, of course, and without good focus the level won’t be there either, so that was most important today to try and keep my focus high as long as possible.”
Schroder ended 2023 as the only player to beat Vink in singles competition, doing so twice, in the Australian Open and US Open finals. But aside from those victories the world No.2 lost out to Vink in seven other title deciders, including a 6-2 6-0 win for Vink in the 2023 Cajun Classic final.
However, 12 months on and the result was very different as Schroder secured back-to-back games to open up a 4-2 cushion in the third and deciding set before breaking Vink to love in the final game of the match with an emphatic forehand down the line winner on match point.
Schroder has now won the first two Super Series titles and the first Grand Slam of 2024, but there was a rare early exit for Schroder and Vink in the quad doubles after the top seeds lost their opening match to Chile’s reigning Parapan American Games gold medallist Francisco Cayulef and Diego Perez, 6-3 6-0.
With the top seeds and defending champions gone, it was third seed Andy Lapthorne and David Wagner who claimed this year’s quad doubles title after beating the first t-time Super Series final partnership of Guy Sasson and Ymanitu Silva 6-3 6-2. Lapthorne and Wagner regained the title two years on from being crowned champions in Baton Rouge.
Hewett secures back-to-back titles against Oda
The only one of the main draw singles finalists in Baton Rouge to have also been victorious at the Georgia Open a week earlier, Hewett secured back-to-back wins over world No.1 Tokito Oda for the first time in 12 months as the British second seed earned his fourth Cajun Classic title since 2017.
Hewett ended his two weeks in the USA with nine straight sets wins as he more than made up for his quarter-final exit in Baton Rouge in 2023 after beating Oda 6-4 6-4.
After earning the only service hold of the first set in the very last game of the set, Hewett then made it six games in a row as he raced into a 4-0 second set lead. However, four consecutive games from Oda suggested that a final set may not be far away before Hewett steadied the ship and took the penultimate game to love, going on to convert the first of two match points with a crisp cross court forehand winner.
Hewett left Baton Rouge with the men’s singles and doubles titles for the third time after successfully defending the title he won in 2023 with Gordon Reid. The top seeds beat Takuua Miki and Oda 6-2 6-2 in this year’s decider.
De Groot earns fourth Cajun Classic women’s title
De Groot wrapped up her fourth Cajun Classic women’s singles title since 2018 after yet another stern test of her abundant skills by world No.2 Yui Kamij, De Groot taking their latest encounter 7-5 7-6(4).
Kamiji’s path to the final included two retirements in matches against Dutch opponents as, firstly, Lizzy de Greef’s hopes of following up on her Georgia Open title were ended by injury and then Jiske Griffioen retired after the first set of her semi-final against the Japanese second seed.
However, the final brought the most familiar of challenges as De Groot and Kamiji met for the 60th time, but for the very first time in Baton Rouge – and it was another memorable contest
Kamiji refused to allow De Groot a set point until the very last game of the opening, despite the top seed having led 5-2, while Kamiji opened up a 2-0 second set lead before De Groot hit back to lead the second set at 5-3. But Kamiji again held firm and forced a tie-break before an errant backhand gave De Groot her third successive singles title in Baton Rouge.
After Griffioen’s retirement from her singles semi-final against Kamiji, she and De Groot were also forced to award a walkover in the women’s doubles final, their misfortune giving top seeds Kamiji and Kgothatso Montjane their third Super Series title together.