Hewett, Cabrillana and Alcott double up at French Riviera Open
World No.3 Alfie Hewett completed the perfect warm-up for Roland Garros by claiming both the singles and doubles titles at the French Riviera Open, beating defending French Open champion Gustavo Fernandez in the final.
Hewett, who won his sixth doubles crown of 2020 with fellow Briton Gordon Reid on Friday, having edged the Scot 7-6(4) 7-6(5) in the semi-finals, before downing top seed Fernandez 6-3 7-6(6) in the final.
“A great bit of prep ahead of Roland Garros,” tweeted the 22-year-old following the twin triumphs on the clay courts of the Mouratoglou Academy in the south of France, traditionally held on hard courts but switched to clay to aid preparations for those heading directly to Paris, where the wheelchair events begin on October 7.
Hewett, Reid and Fernandez will be in the eight-player field for the men’s singles and doubles events, but while the 24-player women’s event featured three names heading to Roland Garros, including top seeds Jordanne Whiley of Great Britain and Momoko Ohtani of Japan, it was Chile’s Macarena Cabrillana who emerged victorious.
The No.7 seed carrying the momentum of her quarter-final win over Whiley all the way to the final, where she downed Netherlands’ Jiske Griffioen, through to her first ITF final since returning to the tour at this tournament a year ago following her retirement in 2017.
The four-time former Grand Slam champion had beaten Ohtani in the last eight before downing No.3 seed Dana Mathewson in the semis, but Cabrillana proved a step too far with the title on the line. The Chilean’s 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory has propelled the 28-year-old to a career-high ranking of No.13 in the world, while former world No.1 Griffioen rose 15 spots to No.33.
Like Hewett, Cabrillana claimed victory in both singles and doubles, clinching victory with Great Britain’s Lucy Shuker over Japanese duo Saki Takamuro and Manami Tanaka 6-0 6-4. Hewett and Reid downed Belgian pair Joachim Gerard and Jef Vandorpe 6-4 6-0.
Dylan Alcott dropped just one set en route to the quad title, beating Netherlands’ Niels Vink 4-6 6-2 6-1. Alcott and Vink also claimed the doubles titles, easing past British pair Antony Cotterill and Andy Lapthorne 6-0 6-1.