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Over 120 athletes from over 16 countries around the world traveled to St. Louis for the thirty-third annual US Open USTA Wheelchair Championships, presented by The ROHO Group. For the third year the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park hosted the event that took place August 29 - September 4.
 
The six day event produced weather of all kinds with temperatures over 100, rain and even a final crisp and cool fall day. No matter the condition the players never seemed phased by anything during tournament play. The tournament was full of action, upsets, a few surprises but mostly just great tennis.
 
The first day of the event all of the top seeds came out victorious and moved to the second round, but it didn't come as easily in the second round with two major upsets in the men's open division. Gordon Reid of Scotland defeated No. 2 seed Maikel Scheffers of The Netherlands who,after his latest victory in July at the 2011 British Open, was expected to go far in this tournament. The match was an up and down battle, but Reid finally came through 6-0, 0-6, 6-3. Another surprise occurred when No. 4 seeded player Nicolas Peifer was defeated by Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
 
In the end the men's final came down to the worlds's No. 1 world player and defending champion Shingo Kunieda of Japan versus his doubles partner for the week Robin Ammerlaan of The Netherlands. Both sides were excited to play and had high hopes of winning either or both of the titles, but while warming up Kunieda had to pull out of the finals due to a nagging shoulder injury. Even with these unfortunate circumstances, Ammerlaan was excited to walk away with his first championship in St. Louis. With the walkover their opponents in the doubles finals Michael Jeremiasz and Satoshi Saida took the championships and still played an exhibition match to keep the crowds at Dwight Davis entertained.
 
As expected, Esther Vergeer of The Netherlands defended her title in the women's division by defeating Jiske Griffioen 6-0, 6-0. Vergeer's four wins at the tournament extended her winning streak to 424 straight matches going into the US Open in New York. Although Griffioen lost in the open division she was able to win in the doubles division with her partner Aniek Van Koot over Japenese duo Kanako Domori and Yui Kamiji 6-4, 6-3.
 
The Quad Doubles finals seemed all too familiar as David Wagner(Hillsboro, Oregon) and Nick Taylor (Wichita, Kansas) took on Great Britain's Andrew Lapthorne and Peter Norfolk for the second year in a row. Tension was high and both teams were fighting for each and every point with the British team taking the first set 6-4. Wagner and Taylor tried to get their heads in the game and hold on during the second set, but lost 6-3. Norfolk also won the Quad singles title over Wagner 6-3, 6-1 sweeping the division once again.
 
The tournament proved to be a great success once again because of the high caliber players that it draws from all corners of the world. Each player enters with a different story and leaves richer in experience and friendship.