Brit trio soar through to finals at Australian Open

Gordon Reid, Alfie Hewett and Jordanne Whiley booked spots in Australian Open finals on a memorable day for Britain’s wheelchair tennis stars at Melbourne Park.

Down Under has always been a happy hunting ground for the GB trio, with Whiley a two-time doubles champion and Reid having taken the singles title in 2016 and doubles victory in 2017.

It was a particularly fine day for Reid, 28, who reached the singles final for the second time in beating Joachim Gerard 6-4, 7-5.

He will face Japan’s Shingo Kunieda, the world number one, in the final in search of a first Grand Slam singles victory since 2016.

The Scot then returned for his doubles semi-final alongside Hewett and prevailed once again, seeing off Kunieda and Gustavo Fernandez 7-6 (2), 6-3, 10-7.

Reid and Hewett now face a final clash with French top seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer.

Whiley, starting her first full campaign since the birth of her son in January 2018, was in rare form alongside Yui Kamiji as she sealed 6-1, 6-4 semi-final victory over Sabine Ellerbrock and Kgothatso Montjane.

Like her male counterparts, she faces a stern test in a final meeting with Dutch top seeds Diede De Groot and Aniek Van Koot.