Six Americans Compete on Day 2 of Wheelchair Masters in Orlando

Six of the seven Americans who qualified for the tournament competed on Monday at the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters. Unfortunately, though, none were able to come away with victories on the second day of the season-ending competition. 

In the quad singles, defending champion David Wagner fell in his second round-robin match to top seed Sam Schroder, 6-3, 6-3, bringing his record this week to 1-1. The pair have now played 15 times, with the Dutchman leading 8-7 overall and winning the last six matches. Also in the quads, Bryan Barten pushed Yamnitu Silva of Brazil to a final set but fell short in his quest for a first victory in his Masters debut, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, and dropped to 0-2. 

In the opening round of the doubles tournament, home interests in the men's pairs went 0-3 combined in the men's and quad fields. Wagner and Nick Taylor, playing their last event together, fell to Schroder and Niels Vink, the top seeds and Tokyo gold medalists in the quads, 6-1, 6-0, while the other all-American pair of Chris Herman and Conner Stroud were beaten by British top seeds and title favorites Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, 6-1, 6-1, in their first men's doubles match. Also in Group A of the men's doubles, Casey Ratzlaff, making his Masters debut alongside Chile's Alezander Cataldo, came up short against Tokyo Paralympic bronze medalists Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-3.

In the women's draw, Dana Mathewson, who lost her first singles match to world No. 1 Diede de Groot on Sunday, had a day off. The world No. 8 will play her first doubles match with British partner Lucy Shuker on Tuesday as well as her second singles match against South Africa's Kgothatso Montjane. All seven Americans in the field will play on Day 3 as round-robin play continues, and Team USA will be gauranteed a win as Ratzlaff and Cataldo take on Herman and Stroud.

The NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters, featuring the world's eight best singles players and 18 doubles teams across the men's, women's and quad fields, runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. For more information on the event, visit the tournament hub here.

Photo: Conner Stroud hits a forehand as Chris Herman looks during their doubles match on Day 2. Photo credit: Paul Shank/USTA