None of the 39 players competing at the 2019 NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters have a finer record at the ITF’s year-end wheelchair tennis championships than quad singles world No. 3 and quad doubles world No. 2 David Wagner.

The American has ten NEC Masters and 11 UNIQLO Doubles Masters titles to his name, but as he comes to the end of a season that included surgery in July, he is content to focus on playing his best tennis on home soil and then see what rewards that can earn him.

Wagner opened his singles and doubles campaigns at the USTA National Campus in Orlando on Wednesday’s second day of competition and after two losses to young Dutchman Sam Schroder in their last three meetings, the quad singles second seed pulled off a 2-6 7-5 6-1 victory in the first f his two round-robin pool matches.  

“Sam is really strong and motors all over that court like crazy, so you have to be pin point accurate and really play your best tennis every time you get on court with him. So that’s all that I tried to do today, to have the right strategy and stick to it. It feels really good to get that first match out of the way to and to get a win really helps,” said Wagner, who’s second and last pool match will be against Australian Heath Davidson later in the week.

“It feels really good to be here in Orlando at the USTA National Campus; what an awesome facility. I had hernia surgery just after Wimbledon. That’s something like four months ago and now I‘m older it takes some time to get back into better shape, but I’m just continuing on and I’m where I need to be, according to the doctors and I’m feeling healthy,” added Wagner who endured the rare experience of failing to reach the semfinals at last year’s NEC Masters at the same venue.

It's 15 years since Wagner won his first NEC Masters title and on a day when he and top seed Andy Lapthorne both had to go to three sets before making winning starts, Wagner appreciates the challenges ahead and is content to keep trying to produce his best.

“Just the opportunity to stay healthy and play at these events this long has been great. I’d love to get eleven (NEC Masters titles), if that works, but I don’t set that as the ultimate goal. But I also don’t rule it out. So I’m ready and I’m going to give it my best effort every time I step on to the court and that’s all I can do.”

Not for the first time, world No. 2 Lapthorne had a topsy-turvy first two sets against Japan’s world No. 4 Koji Sugeno before prevailing 1-6 6-1 6-3 in his first quad singles match. Later in the day, Lapthorne, Schroder and Wagner met in doubles competition. On paper, the gulf in experience as doubles partners is stark, with 11-time UNIQLO Doubles Masters champions Nick Taylor and Wagner having first played together in 2002. Meanwhile, this week’s Doubles Masters is the first tournament for Lapthorne and Schroder as partners, but the latter combination fought back for a 3-6 6-1 6-2 victory.

The other quad doubles round-robin pool started with Korean Kyu-Seung Kim and Sugeno beating Davidson and Vink 7-6(6) 6-3.

Men’s doubles seeds race to early wins

Taylor and Wagner were not the only defending champions in action as the UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters round-robin pool matches got underway, with reigning men’s doubles champions Joachim Gerard and Stefan Olsson one of four partnerships to race to early wins.

Winners of their first Grand Slam titles together this season, at the Australian open and Wimbledon, Gerard and Olsson powered to a 6-0 6-1 victory over two-time Parapan American Games gold medallists Gustavo Fernandez and Agustin Ledesma.

“It’s always nice to play with Jo and especially these kinds of matches at the Masters. You pretty much have to win everything to get through and there are always difficult opponents here.” said Olsson, who became NEC Masters champion for the first time and then Doubles Masters champion for the first time in 2008. “But the way we played today, I think we really have the chance to go far in this tournament,”

Gerard and Olsson were runners-up in the UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters 12 months ago, denying Gerard the opportunity of claiming both Singles and Doubles Masters crowns in the same season. But after something of a tough 2019 for Gerard, which has included the loss of his long-time coach and close friend Marc Grandjean, there is nothing he would like more than to complete ‘the double’ this year.

“I think it was a really good season for us with the two Grand Slams but next to that we didn’t make so great in the other tournaments and for sure we would like to finish with this title. We weren’t so far away last year, so we want to do the job this week,” said Gerard.

“I didn’t serve very well yesterday (in his opening men’s singles match), but apart from that I played good. So I just want to play my game and see what happens. I haven’t made so many tournament for the last few months, other than the US Open, I’ve worked a lot with my new coach, so we are looking forward to this week, to see my improvement,” added the Belgian.

Gerard and Olsson’s opponents in last year’s Doubles Masters final were reigning Paralympic champions Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer and the French top seeds were one of three combinations to drop just three games in in Wednesday’s other men’s doubles matches.

Houdet and Peifer’s 6-2 6-1 win over young Americans Chris Herman and Conner Stroud provided Houdet with an ideal birthday present, while 2017 champions and second seeds Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid beat Spain’s Daniel Caverzaschi and Martin de la Puente 6-1 6-2. There was also a 6-2 6-1 win for Dutch duo Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers, against Ruben Spaargaren and Jef Vandorpe.

Kruger and Montjane repel South American challenge 

Angelica Bernal of Colombia and Maria Florencia Moreno of Argentina came into their first UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters as a partnership that’s now into double figures in terms of their experience of playing together. They also arrived in Orlando having recently won the Brazil Open women’s doubles title.

By comparison, Katharina Kruger and Kgothatso Montjane first partnered each other in competition in 2012 and are well on their way to 20 tournaments together. But it was Bernal and Moreno that made the better start when the two combinations met in their first pool match in Orlando on Wednesday. Nevertheless, a change of tactics had the desired effect as Kruger ad Montane earned an early 3-6 7-5 6-2 victory.

“For quite a long time in the first set we felt like we were going to get blasted off the court, but once we’d got that set over we regrouped and started to talk about what we had to change and came up with plan B,” said Kruger. “That meant not shooting with them and giving them the short balls that they would like to have, because they weren’t making any mistakes. So we changed it up a bit and brought more variety into our game. We were just more patient, didn’t try to win the point too early and that was the key to winning the match, I think.”

There was also a difficult introduction to this year’s tournament for Brits Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley, but the two-time Paralympic bronze medallists held on to beat Charlotte Famin of France and her Chinese opponent Zhenzhen Zhu 7-5 1-6 7-5 in their opening pool match.

Thursday’s third day of play provides a feast of wheelchair tennis with no fewer than 16 matches across the singles and doubles events.

LIVE STREAMING OF THE 2019 NEC WHEELCHAIR SINGLES MASTERS AND UNIQLO WHEELCHAIR DOUBLES MASTERS WILL BE AVAILABLE EACH DAY VIA THE ITF WHEELCHAIR TENNIS WEBSITE.