Takuya Miki stuns Martin de la Puente in Roland Garros first round

PARIS — The wheelchair tennis matches got underway at Roland Garros on Tuesday and the first round immediately saw an upset with Takuya Miki (JPN) taking out the number four seed, Martin de la Puente (ESP) in the first round.

In a tight first set Miki claimed the win 7-5 but things appeared to be stabilizing for de la Puente in the second which he claimed 6-3. Miki stormed back to win the third set 6-4, his second win in a grand slam. What is notable is that the pair both won 111 points but Miki was able to claim far more crucial points to win the match.

The rest of the men’s singles matches went as expected with wins for Alfie Hewett (GBR), Gordon Reid (GBR), Gustavo Fernandez (ARG), Alexander Cataldo (CHI), Tom Egberink (NED), and Tokito Oda (JPN) all in straight sets. Oda had the only scare of the group, only winning the first set on a tie-break 9-7 against Ruben Spaargaren (NED).

Another Asian player produced an upset in the women’s singles with Zhenzhen Zhu (CHN) taking out the number four seed Jiske Griffioen (NED) in straight sets. Zhu was made to work for it, winning the second only on a 7-5 tie-break.

Much like the men’s draw the rest was all straight sets wins for the favorites. Diede De Groot (NED), Aniek Van Koot (NED), Diana Mathewson (USA), Lizy De Greef (NED), Momoko Ohtani (JPN), and Yui Kamiji (JPN).

This year marks an historic tournament in Roland Garros as for the first time there will be youth championships at the grand slam. Tournaments in boys and girls singles and doubles start later this week with four competitors seeking to win the historic honor.

Record Roland Garros field heads to the semi-final stage

PARIS – For the first time, a grand slam had a wheelchair singles field of 32, increasing opportunities on the sport’s biggest stage. And with that has come some stunning upsets in Roland Garros with at least one player that would have missed out if it was 16 making the semi-final stages.

The biggest upset in the men’s singles draw is Tokito Ota, ranked ninth in the world, who has set up an all-Japanese semi-final with world number two Shingo Kunieda.

After playing in the new first round, he took out the French legend Nicolas Peifer 6-1, 6-3. After that, he took on Gordon Reid (GBR #4) and again came through in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

No.2 seed Shingo Kunieda won his men’s wheelchair singles quarter-final against France’s Stephane Houdet.

In the semi-final, he will take on Kunieda, who continued the rough tournament for French players against Japanese players. Kunieda beat Stefane Houdet 6-3, 6-2.

The other semi-final will see the British number one seed, Alfie Hewett, take on Argentina’s number three seed Gustavo Hernandez.

After a bye to the second round, Hewett beat Tom Egerbink 6-1, 6-2. Fernandez also took a bye to the second round and won a challenging first set 6-4 before beating Martin De La Puente (ESP) 6-1 in the second.

Japanese No.2 seed Yui Kamiji

The women’s singles went precisely as the seeding suggested it would. The world number one Diede De Groot (NED) is through to the semis after a 6-2, 6-1 win over Angelica Bernal (COL). She will play Kgothatso Montjane (RSA), who also won through in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

The other semi-final will pit the second and third players in the world against each other. Anniek Van Koot (NED) came back from a set down to beat Dana Mathewson (USA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Yuji Kamiji won the all-Japanese second round match against Momoko Ohtani in three 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-2.

All photos Fédération Française de Tennis