LONDON (AP) — Alfie Hewett finally got the Wimbledon title he needed to complete a career Grand Slam, then added another doubles trophy as well.
The British player beat Martin De La Puente 6-2, 6-3 in the men’s wheelchair singles final on No. 1 Court on Sunday. It was his first Wimbledon singles title after two straight runner-up finishes and ninth major overall. He also has 21 major titles in wheelchair doubles after adding a sixth Wimbledon victory together with Gordon Reid later against Japanese pair Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda.
But it was the singles title at his home Grand Slam tournament that was the one thing missing from his resume.
“You don’t need reminding me. I’m speechless to be honest,” the 26-year-old Hewett told an on-court interviewer after the win over De La Puente. “To leave on a singles final loss has been not far off heartbreaking the last couple of years. … When you’ve been watching this ever since (you were) a young kid and it’s been a dream for so, so long, narrowly missing out is a real tough one. I’ll be honest, last night I was a bowl of nerves because I didn’t want to walk away with another loss.”
De La Puente, a 25-year-old Spaniard, was playing in his first Grand Slam final and was up against both a player who has beaten him multiple times since they were teenagers as well as a crowd of several thousand people who were cheering loudly for his opponent.
“We’ve (been) battling so much since juniors, many matches. He always won,” De La Puente said.
Hewett completed a perfect day by teaming up with Reid to beat Miki and Oda — the player who beat him in last year’s singles final — 6-4, 7-6 (2).
In the women’s wheelchair doubles final, top-seeded Yui Kamiji and Kgothatso Montjane beat Dutch pair Diede de Groot and Jiske Griffioen 6-4, 6-4. It was an eighth Wimbledon doubles title for Kamiji and a first for Montjane.
De Groot on Saturday won her 15th consecutive singles title.
In the quad wheelchair singles final, Niels Vink beat fellow Dutchman Sam Schroder 7-6 (4), 6-4. ___
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