Kunieda beats Olsson to Tokyo title
Shingo Kunieda thrilled an enthusiastic home crowd on Sunday when he produced a dominant display to beat two-time Wimbledon champion Stefan Olsson in the inaugural men’s singles final at the Rakuten Japan Open Wheelchair Championships.
One of the newest additions to the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, the ITF 2 Series event ended with Kunieda having also partnered Olsson to win the men’s double titles at the Ariake Tennis Park, the venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Tennis Events.
After his opening 6-2 6-1 win over Ho Won Im, world No. 2 Kunieda eased to a 6-0 6-1 over his Chinese semifinal opponent Shunjiang Dong, while second seed Olsson also powered past Japan’s former world No. 3 Satoshi Saida.
However, Olsson found the going tough in Sunday’s singles final as Kunieda claimed his seventh win in eight matches against Sweden’s world No. 6 this season, the eight-time ITF World Champion winning 6-0 6-2.
Kunieda and Olsson faced few problems in Saturday’s men’s doubles final as wheelchair tennis made its first appearance integrated alongside the ATP 500 tournament, the top seeds earning a 6-0 6-0 win over Dong and Im.