Lapthorne and Whiley win doubles titles ahead of US Open

Hillingdon pair Andy Lapthorne and Jordanne Whiley both warmed up for this week’s US Open by winning Super Series doubles titles.

Lapthorne, from Eastcote, joined forces with Australia’s Dylan Alcott to defeat three-time Paralympic champions Nick Taylor and David Wagner in the quad doubles final at the USTA Wheelchair Championships.

The second seeds dropped just seven games in their two victories en route to the final in St. Louis, before defeating the American top seeds and defending champions 6-0, 7-5.

It gave the west Londoner some recompense for a 6-4, 6-1 loss to top seed Wagner in the semi-finals of the quad singles.

Lapthorne, who has subsequently moved up one place to number two in this week’s quad doubles world rankings, said: “I’m so pumped after that, taking out the three-time gold medallists and in only our first tournament together.”

“It bodes well for New York, but that’s a new challenge for us.”

Whiley and Yui Kamiji, hoping to win their seventh Grand Slam title this week, justified their top seeding in the women’s doubles as they fought back to beat second seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

However, British Open champion Whiley’s bid for back-to-back Super Series singles titles came to an end in the quarter-finals in St. Louis after the world number five was edged out by German world number four Sabine Ellerbrock 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.

Whiley, from Ickenham, said: “I’m not happy with my performance this week but something good’s come out of it and I’m really happy that we can go into our doubles title defence in New York on the back of another big title.”