Van Koot, De la Puente and Vink earn Sardinia Open titles
Twenty years on from her first international singles title, in the women’s singles second draw at the 2003 German Open, Aniek van Koot gained a long-awaited first singles title of 2023 as she earned victory at the 23rd Sardinia Open, with Martin de la Puente and Niels Vink winning the men’s singles and quad singles titles.
Van Koot’s 2003 German Open second draw title came at the expense of Germany’s Katharina Kruger, but they were denied the opportunity of meeting for a 36th time by Lizzy de Greef as the 19-year-old fourth seed booked her place in the semi-finals and proceeded to take Van Koot to three sets for the first time.
Van Koot was more than equal to the challenge and that posed by second seed Angelica Bernal in the final, beating the Colombian 6-3 6-3 for her third victory over Bernal in four meetings this year. It was a welcome triumph for the 33-year-old Dutchwoman, who lost to Bernal for just the first time in in the final of June’s Toyota Open International De L'ile De Re – Van Koot’s comeback tournament after three months out of competition following wrist surgery.
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While victory brought Van Koot her first singles title since the British Open in July 2022, it was also her first singles title in Alghero, where she is now a five-time doubles champion after partnering Lucy Shuker to the women’s doubles title. Shuker and Van Koot are now the winners of five career doubles titles together after beating second seeds Pauline Deroulede and Emmanuelle Morch 6-3 6-2.
De la Puente clinches second ITF 1 Series career title
Martin de la Puente showed that he is in good form a month out from the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters arriving in Spain for the first time, the 24-year-old Spanish top seed earning the second ITF 1 Series title of his career with victory in the men’s singles.
De la Puente had never won an ITF 1 singles title before this season, but after being victorious at Tram Barcelona Open on home soil in May, De la Puente opened his Sardinia Open campaign in fie form, dropping just one game in three matches on his way to the semi-finals.
Thereafter, the challenges became much tougher, De la Puente firstly avenging his three-set US Open quarter-final loss to Gordon Reid with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 win and then overcoming former world No, 1 Stephane Houdet for the first time in six career matches to triumph 1-6 -7-7 6-3.
De la Puente’s singles victory saw him reverse the result of his and Reid’s men’s doubles semi-final, when Houdet was on the other side of the net and on the opposite side of the outcome as he partnered Frederic Cattaneo to a 5-7 6-4 6-4 win.
But victory in Alghero would elude the French partnership as Dutch second seeds Tom Egberink and Ruben Spaargaren earned their first ITF 1 doubles title together 7-5, 6-4.
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Vink resumes winning ways with third title in Sardinia
World No. 1 Niels Vink might have had his 36-match winning streak for the season snapped by Sam Schroder in the final of the US Open, but with world No. 2 Schroder absent in Alghero this year, Vink powered his way to a third successive Sardinia Open victory for the loss of just six games across four matches.
In beating Brazil’s Leandro Pena and Ymanitu Silva, Germany’s Maximillian Laudan and Japan’s second seed Kojii Sugeno, top seed Vink took his title tally for the season into double figures, making 2023 numerically his most successful season to date when it comes to titles won.
The Sardinia Open crown was Vink’s last singles title of seven accumulated in 2022, but the world No. 1 will hope that his winning ways extend beyond Alghero this year as he eyes a first Singles Masters title in Spain in a month’s time.
Vink will resume his doubles partnership with Schroder in Barcelona as they seek to defend their Doubles Masters title, but this year’s Sardinia Open brought the start of a new partnership for Vink as he paired up with Canadian Robert Shaw to make a victorious tournament debut together.
A 6-0 6-4 win over German twins Marcus and Maximillian Laudan and a 6-0 6-0 win over Italy’s Mario Alfredo Naselli and Alberto Saja put Shaw and Vink into the final before they were awarded a walkover ahead of their scheduled meeting with second seeds Pena and Silva.