MELBOURNE, Australia – World No. 1 Diede de Groot (NED) has a stronghold atop the women’s wheelchair division and won her 9th singles and 9th doubles title in Melbourne.
A day later in singles, de Groot faced defending Australian Open champion [2] Yui Kamiji in the finals, an opponent she knows well. De Groot and Kamiji were responsible for all three of last year’s major titles.
De Groot seemed to be cruising to her third Australian Open title when she was up a set and a break, but Kamiji battled back to take the lead and eventually the set.
A 10-point match tiebreaker would decide the outcome of the pair’s 34th meeting. De Groot jumped out to an early lead and never looked back to claim the championship, 6-3, 6-7, 10-4.
De Groot’s singles title came a day after she lifted the doubles trophy with countrywoman Aniek Van Koot.
In quad wheelchair men’s doubles, Heath Davidson (AUS) won his 4th-straight Australian Open doubles title with his compatriot Dylan Alcott. The pair battled Andy Lapthorne and David Wagner in an 81-minute match, where a 10-point match tiebreaker also determined the champion.
At 4-4 in the decider, Alcott and Davidson combined for back-to-back forehand winners to help them pull away en route to a 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 victory.
Official Partner of the Australian Open
The Yonex Stringing Team is the Official Stringing Team of the Australian Open for the 6th-straight year. The 2021 team consists of 26 stringers from six countries and is dedicated to providing the world standard of racquet stringing and is supported by the Made-in-Japan PRECISION 9.0 and ProTech 8 Deluxe machines that excel in precision stringing.
Team Yonex
Diede de Groot (NED) | VCORE / REXIS / 75th Anniversary Collection
Heath Davidson (AUS) | EZONE / POLTOUR PRO / 75th Anniversary Collection