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Page last updated at 18:11 GMT, Saturday, 3 July 2010 19:11 UK

Wimbledon 2010: Top seeds into wheelchair doubles final

Stephane Houdet and Shingo Kunieda beat Frederic Cattaneo and Nicolas Peifer

Top seeds progress to wheelchair final (UK only)

By Elizabeth Hudson
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Stephane Houdet and Shingo Kunieda remain on track for their third Grand Slam wheelchair doubles title of 2010 after reaching the Wimbledon final.

The pair, who also won at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, beat French pair Frederic Cattaneo and Nicolas Peifer 6-3 6-2.

Houdet, from France and his Japanese partner, are the top two players in the world singles and doubles rankings.

They will face Robin Ammerlaan and Stefan Olsson in Sunday's final.

Ammerlaan, of the Netherlands and his Swedish partner defeated the all-Dutch pair of Maikel Scheffers and Ronald Vink 7-6 (7-4)6-2.

Ammerlaan and Olsson made a slow start to the match and were soon 4-0 and 5-2 down.

They were forced to work hard to stay in the set, saving a set point in the ninth game and breaking both Scheffers and Vink as they served for the set to level it at 5-5 thanks to some quick touches at the net.

The tie-break also swung both ways with stylish winners from both Scheffers and Vink but they committed a couple of key errors to hand the initiative back to Ammerlaan and Olsson.

A Vink mistake put Ammerlaan and Olsson 6-4 up and although the Dutch pair pulled a point back, Vink netted a backhand to give his opponents the set.

Ammerlaan and Olsson looked more confident in the second set, racing into a 5-0 lead as they moved their opponents around the court while Olsson found better angles with his volleys and when Vink netted a forehand, it was all over.

Robin Ammerlaan and Stefan Olsson
Ammerlaan and Olsson lost in the final at Roland Garros

In the opening semi-final, Houdet and Kunieda started to put pressure on the all-French team's serve early on and Peifer was forced to save a couple of break points in the sixth game before levelling the match at 3-3.

Cattaneo then found his serve under threat in the eighth game, saving two break points with aces, but they were unable to hold off the pressure and when Peifer went long on the fourth break point against them, it put the French and Japanese team in a strong position.

Houdet served out for the set and he and Kunieda then won the next five games, showing their strength to edge close to victory.

Houdet lost his serve to make it 5-1 and Cattaneo held to love to give the underdogs a chance of a fightback.

But a couple of forehand winners by Houdet proved crucial in the next game and when Peifer again went long with a forehand, it gave the top seeds victory.

Houdet, who won the title with compatriot Michael Jeremiasz last year, was delighted to have reached another final.

"The match was one of our best because we came up with a lot of winners and played well," he told BBC Sport. "We have played the three Grand Slams and at the start it was difficult to know when to switch our positions on the court but we are getting better and better and learning from each other."



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see also
Shuker reaches wheelchair decider
02 Jul 10 |  Disability Sport
Vergeer and Homan create history
05 Jul 09 |  Disability Sport
A-Z of Paralympic classification
28 Aug 08 |  Disability Sport
Disability Sport on the BBC
02 Nov 09 |  Disability Sport


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