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David Wagner and Nick Taylor © |
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David Wagner and Nick Taylor © |
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David Wagner and Nick Taylor © |
The 7th annual Pensacola Open, presented by the Pensacola Parks & Recreation Department, continues its string of successful events. This years tournament (April 14 – 18), part of the USTA ITF/NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, showcased a world-class field of 98 players from 16 countries and is likely to be the 3rd largest wheelchair event in the US this year.
"What a terrific week!" exclaimed Tournament Chairman David Mayo. "We had the best weather, great food, awesome competition and wonderful camaraderie with the players! I’m so grateful to the USTA and our local sponsors for making all this possible!"
Robin Ammerlaan and Aniek van Koot secured a Dutch double in the men's main draw and women's singles finals on Sunday to claim their first ever Pensacola Open Championships. And American top seed David Wagner returned to his winning ways in the quad singles to capture his 5th Pensacola title.
World No. 5 van Koot stole the headlines in the women's singles as she claimed the first ITF 1 Series singles title of her career. The 3rd seed eased to her first career win over 2008 Champion Florence Gravellier 63 61 in Saturday's semifinals. After van Koot beat world No. 4 Sharon Walraven for the first time in 12 career meetings last week to reach the Florida Open final, the 20-year-old Dutchwoman secured a repeat performance in dramatic circumstances for her latest success, coming within two points of a straight sets loss to eventually prevail 26 76(5) 62 in the Finals.
While there was an all-Dutch final in the women's singles, Ammerlaan and Ronald Vink ensured the same thing in the men's main draw singles, with a Dutch player again thwarting French hopes as Ammerlaan defeated defending champion and top seed Stephane Houdet 64 76(6) in an epic semifinal.
A week after winning his first Super Series final, Vink continued to perform above his 7th seeding as he beat 5th seed Martin Legner (AUT) 75 62 in the other semifinal to set up his second ITF 1 Series final of the season against Ammerlaan. However, Ammerlaan repeated his win over Vink in February's Sydney International decider, denying Vink back-to-back NEC Tour titles with a 75 62 victory.
A week after losing the Florida Open quad singles final to Sweden's Johan Andersson, world No. 2 David Wagner cleared his path to the Pensacola Open title after ending Andersson's title defense in spectacular fashion in Saturday's semifinals 60 61. Meanwhile, 2nd seed Nick Taylor was stretched to three sets by 4th seed Sarah Hunter (CAN) in the other semifinal, but the American held on for a 76(3) 26 62 victory.
However, as in recent contests between Taylor and Wagner, Wagner showed that he seems to have the measure of his compatriot at the moment as he sealed another 60 61 victory in the finals.
In the Letter Divisions, David Williams (Sugar Hill, GA) regained his Pensacola Open title in the A div. defeating Russell Rodriguez 36 64 61. David Mayo (Pensacola, FL) defended his B title taking down an 'up and coming' Jeff Rush (Clearwater, FL) 26 63 62. In the C div., Victor Vaughn (Hardy, AR) also defended his crown with a 36 63 60 victory over John Frederic (Atlanta, GA).