Hewett and Reid beaten in breathless British Open final

Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid were cruelly beaten in the final of the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships as fourth-seeds Gustavo Fernandez and Shingo Kunieda edged a three-set thriller.

The Rio 2016 silver medallists succumbed to 6-7 6-1 7-5 defeat after just shy of three hours as the 2019 French Open champions showed their class in a gruelling battle.

The final set in particular saw the game’s ascendancy yo-yo between the duos but Fernandez and Kunieda – who meet in tomorrow’s men’s singles final – took a decisive break late on and held serve for the match.

After the game, Reid said: “It was a good match – it was very tight and it came all the way down to the last few points at the end.

“Hopefully we can build on this going forward.”

Earlier, double Paralympic medallist Jordanne Whiley was beaten in the women’s doubles final alongside Japan’s Yui Kamiji.

The game was delayed due to rain and moved indoors late into the first set, with top seeds Diede De Groot and Aniek Van Koot eventually running out 7-6 6-4 winners.