With Japanese players featuring in four of Thursday’s remaining eight singles group matches at the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters, the four Japanese players involved were all victorious as Tokito Oda booked his place in the men’s singles semi-finals on his Singles Masters debut and Momoko Ohtani set up an all-Japanese women’s singles semi-final for the second year in a row.

Shingo Kunieda and Yui Kamiji also returned to the last four at the year-end championship on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, but it’s Oda’s presence in the semi-finals that arguably catches the eye most as he prepares to face four-time Masters champion Joachim Gerard for the third time after losing two close matches against the Belgian in the last 18 months.

“Last time (at the Masters) I only played doubles. I'm so happy that I am in the singles and doubles at this tournament,” said Oda, who beat Martin de la Puente 6-2 6-3 in his semi-final.  “It’s going to be the last tournament of the year so I will try to do my best and I want to finish with a good win. I'm excited to play against Joachim; I lost to him last time at Wimbledon so I'm excited to play him again.”

After not expecting to contest this year's Singles Masters a week ago, world No.10 Gerard marked his place in this year's semi-finals with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Tom Egberink that saw him finish top of round-robin Group B.

Kunieda and defending champion Alfie Hewett will contest the other men's semi-final after second seed Kunieda defeated world No. 3 Gustavo Fernandez 6-3 6-3 and top seed Hewett beat Takuya Miki 6-3 6-4 to finish top of Group A.   

Having missed the 2021 Singles Masters, Kunieda's progress to the semi-finals of this year's event means that he is set to overtake Hewett at the top of the world rankings next week.

Friday’s women’s singles semi-final line-up includes three of the players in the last four line-up in 2021 and guarantees that Sunday’s final will be a Dutch-Japanese contest for the sixth successive year.

Reigning champion Diede de Groot is set to face Jiske Griffioen, while world No.8 Ohtani will play second seed Kamiji in a second Masters semi-final in a row.

Thirty minutes into the fifth day of play in Oss, world No.1 De Groot, Kamiji and Kgothatso Montane were all in dominant positions in their last round-robin group matches, with none of their respective opponents having posted a single game on the scoreboard and top seed de Groot well on her way to taking the second set of her match.

De Groot went on to complete a 6-0 6-0 win over Zhenzhen Zhu, while Kamiji beat van Koot 6-0 6-4. However, for Montjane events took a different route as Ohtani battled back to beat the world No. 5 3-6 6-4 6-3 to thwart the South African player’s hopes of reaching a first Singles Masters semi-final.

For Ohtani, her progress to the last four in Oss is a welcome change of fortune after she retired from her US Open quarter-final against De Groot and then had to withdraw before her scheduled Daegu Open semi-final against Kamiji last month.

“I had a hard time this year because of an injury. I wasn't sure if I would be able to come back, but I am happy to have made it to the semi-finals and I am excited about tomorrow,” she said.

Griffioen, playing in her first Singles Masters since claiming the third of her three titles in 2016, beat Van Koot earlier in the week, but early in her final group match against Lucy Shuker, Griffioen’s semi-final progress looked like it might come under some pressure. Shuker took the opening set, while van Koot made an early resurgence in her second set against Kamiji, but Griffioen regrouped to wrap up a 2-6 6-3 6-0 win.   

Having played every Singles Masters final since 2016 – one against Griffioen and four against De Groot, Kamiji is leaving no stone unturned in her bid to regain a title she won in 2013 to become the first non-Dutch player to be crowned women’s singles champion.

“Aniek had big advantage to play in her home country and played well, especially the in second sets,” conceded Kamiji. I’m happy with my performance today; it was not perfect but I worked on a few new things at home, before I came here, so it’s time to try those things now. Sometimes the feedback is not what I expected but I need to try again and again to know how I can best use the new style. I’m excited to play the semi-final tomorrow. It will be tough, but I would like to see how I can play.”

ALL-DUTCH PARTNERSHIPS INTO DOUBLES MASTERS FINALS

While three of the four women’s singles semi-finalists from 2021 feature in this year’s semi-finals, three of the four players set for Friday’s singles semi-finals will also line up again for Saturday’s ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters finals.

Top seeds De Groot and Van Koot will bid for a third successive Doubles Masters women’s title together after beating Kamiji and Montjane 6-1 6-1 after just 53 minutes. Their semi-final win earns De Groot and Van Koot their fourth win over Kamiji and Montjane since May, with the two partnerships having previously met in this year’s Roland Garros, French Riviera Open and US Open finals.  

Griffioen and Ohtani, semi-finalists together at both Wimbledon and the US Open this season, will hope to end De Groot and Van Koot’s bid for a hat-trick of Doubles Masters titles after beating South American duo Macarena Cabrillana and Maria Florencia Moreno 6-4 6-1.

The first of two successive evening sessions this week in Oss ended with an all-Dutch victory for the assembled home crowd to enjoy as Tom Egberink and Ruben Spaargaren won a thrilling encounter against Hewett and Maikel Scheffers 6-3 4-6 (10-5), with the second seeds unable to capitalise on a 3-1 lead in both of the first two tie-break sets.

Hewett and Scheffers end this year’s Doubles Masters having suffered their first two losses as a doubles partnership, both of which came in match tie-breaks. Their first loss came against the new partnership of Ben Bartram and Oda, but the world’s top two ranked junior players were unable to secure a repeat win against higher seeded opponents in their semi-final, losing out to top seeds Martin de la Puente and Gustavo Fernandez 6-2 6-2.

De La Puente and Fernandez face Egberink and Spaargaren in Saturday’s final, meaning that there will be different player names on each of the men’s singles and men’s doubles winners’ trophies over the weekend.

The men's, women's and quad doubles finals will each feature all-Dutch partnerships, with quad singles semi-finalists Sam Schroder and Niels Vink also seeking a successful defence of their Doubles Masters title.

Following the withdrawals of Andy Lapthorne and David Wagner due to injury and illness, respectively, Schroder and Vink will play Heath Davidson and Robert Shaw in the doubles final, while Schoder will face South Africa's Donald Ramphadi and Vink will play Davidson in the quad singles semi-finals.

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