Brit Norfolk fails final test at US Open

Paul Carter

Britain’s Peter Norfolk lost his long-standing grip on the US Open quad singles title after being defeated in the final by American David Wagner in New York.

Norfolk, Britain’s most successful wheelchair tennis player, went down 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 to Wagner, the first time that “the Quadfather” has ever finished runner-up at a Grand Slam tournament.

The score failed to completely tell the story of the match, which was eventually spread over two days after torrential rain forced the abandonment of play on the Sunday. However, the rain came slightly too late for the British and world number one, after Wagner had stormed through the first set to take a surprisingly emphatic 6-0 lead.

When the match finally resumed on Monday, Norfolk looked much more commanding against an opponent he had already beaten previously in the tournament.

The two-time Paralympic champion was still struggling to find his rhythm with his service game, an inconsistency that plagued him thoughout the tournament, but after breaking the American went on to gain the first service hold of the second set to take a 3-1 lead.

Norfolk went on to extend that margin to 5-1 before Wagner pulled one game back, but the Briton brought up two set points with his first ace since the resumption of play in the next game.

A double fault saw Norfolk’s second set point disappear, but he eventually levelled the match on his fourth set point to force the decider.

Norfolk, playing in only his second tournament since returning from paternity leave, began the final set well, though still found difficulty finding consistency with his serve.

It wasn’t long before the momentum started to swing in the American’s favour and Wagner opened up a 4-1 lead as Norfolk’s bid for a third US Open title slowly disappeared.

Wagner finally wrapped up his first US Open title and his first Grand Slam title after an hour and 28 minutes of play, with Monday’s final two sets lasting just short of an hour.

“Peter’s a fighter and he’s always going to fight back but it means so much to win at home like this,” said Wagner.

Norfolk said he felt his own performance had let him down.

“I held back instead of just hitting it, and David closed it out,” he said.

Britain’s players had more success at the Tennis Canada International Wheelchair Tennis Championships, gaining victories in all seven events they were involved in. Gordon Reid, Lucy Shuker and Jamie Burdekin took the men’s singles, women’s singles and quad singles titles respectively at the event in Montreal.