Wagner Stays Course at Wheelchair Masters

After five thrilling days of group stage play at the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters at the USTA National Campus, David Wagner’s quest to add to his legendary resume continues.

After going 2-0 in Group B play in the men’s quad singles, world No. 3 Wagner advanced to a semifinal clash against Great Britain’s Andrew Lapthorne, as he pursues an 11th singles title at the year-end event.

The other semifinal sees compatriots from the Netherlands, Niels Vink and Sam Schroder, face each other as each seeks a berth in his first Masters final.

“Both pools are full of really strong players, so I had to show up and try to play my best every time I can,” Wagner said on Friday after beating Australia’s Heath Davidson, 6-4, 6-1, in his final group match.

“That’s the beauty of tennis: there’s always something to improve on every time you’re out there. I enjoyed those two matches. They were tough, strong, physical battles and I’m happy to come through two wins in pool play.

Wagner rallied for a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory against Schroder in his opening group match on Wednesday, and will get a chance to exact a measure of revenge on Lapthorne should he score a semifinal victory on Sunday.

The Brit scored victories over Wagner at both Wimbledon and the US Open, with the latter match coming in round-robin play prior to Lapthorne eventually winning that title.

“I want to just keep playing as well as I can, step on the court and execute what the game plan is," Wagner added. "That’s first and foremost for me, and if that makes a victory, then I’ll be really pleased with that. The knockout is tough, and it’s kind of do or die, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Wagner and his partner Nick Taylor will not have the chance to make it a dozen men's quad doubles titles, however, after going a surprise 0-3 in the group stage by losing a trio of marathon three-setters against Vink and Davidson, Lapthorne and Shroder and Kim Kyu-Seung and Koji Sugeno.

"We had a rough showing here. It's only one pool of four teams, and all four teams are extremely strong players - fast, strong, physical players who put the pressue on us consistently," Wagner continued. 

"We have to go back and re-evaluate a little bit to see what kind of changes we can make. It's great that we have the [PlaySight] live-streaming here at the Campus, so we can go back and watch it, watch it at a high level with our coaches, and analyze it. 

"We're definitely disappointed in that result, but we're going to come back and see what we can do." 

Three other Americans in addition to Wagner and Taylor competed over the course of the first week in Orlando, with Dana Mathewson and her partner, Marjolein Buis of the Netherlands, finishing as runners-up in Group B in the women’s doubles draw.

The pair saw their quest for a title ended in the semifinals on Saturday evening by top seeds Deide De Groot and Aniek Van Koot in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-3, as Mathewson was bidding to reach the doubles final for the second straight year. 

The American-Dutch pairing will nonetheless play for third place on Monday, as they face Germany's Katharina Kruger and South Africa's Kgothatso Montjane in a rematch of their dramatic round-robin encounter, which lasted nearly four hours on Friday and went in favor of the German and South African, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.

Young Americans Chris Herman and Conner Stroud, last-minute substitutes in the men's wheelchair doubles draw, concluded their Masters debuts in pool play by finishing in third place in Group B.

The NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters run simultaneously at the USTA National Campus until next Tuesday, Nov. 26. For more information, click here.