Norfolk is hoping to start 2009 on a winning note

Paralympic tennis champion Peter Norfolk won his opening quad singles match at the Australian Open.

The Briton, in his first event since winning gold in Beijing, defeated Sweden's Johan Andersson 6-4 6-1 in the first of his round-robin matches.

But British number one Lucy Shuker lost 6-1 6-2 to world number one Esther Vergeer in the women's singles.

The win extends Vergeer's winning streak to 355 matches since her last singles loss in January 2003.

Norfolk made a slow start against Andersson and found himself a break down early on.

But he clawed his way back into the match and won four consecutive games to lead 5-3.

Norfolk lost his serve while serving for the set but immediately gained three successive set points on the Swede's serve and needed just his first set point to seize the initiative.

He dominated the second set, building up a 4-0 lead, and quickly wrapped up victory in 51 minutes.

Norfolk now faces Americans David Wagner and Nick Taylor in his remaining two round-robin matches, with the top two players after the pool phase of the event going forward to Saturday's final.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version