Tennis News  

Reid helps Brits to victory

Great Britain’s Men’s team brought the 2008 World Team Cup to a glorious end on Saturday when they sealed the Men’s World Group 2 title, defeating top seeds Belgium 2-1 in the Davis and Fed Cups of wheelchair tennis, in Cremona, Italy.
 
The four-strong Men’s team, which included Scottish teenager Gordon Reid, had already clinched promotion back to World Group 1, the elite group of 16 nations, for next year’s Invacare World Team Cup, after gaining their place in Saturday’s final and guaranteeing themselves a top two placing in World Group 2.
 
After heavy overnight rain continued in to Saturday morning in Cremona, the start of the Men’s World Group 2 final was delayed by almost three hours.  However, once play did get underway, Reid got Great Britain off to a great start when he clinched the first set of the first singles rubber against Belgium’s Gert Vos 6-2.
 
Vos edged the second set, but Reid kept his nerve and came from 2-3 down in the final set to secure a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory. Reid then partnered David Phillipson in the doubles and produced a dazzling performance against Gerard and Vos to seal a 6-1, 6-1 victory and spark great celebrations in the British camp.
 
Phillipson and Reid finish this year’s event unbeaten, after winning all the singles and doubles rubbers they have contested this week against Sri Lanka, Russia, Germany and Belgium.
 
The World Group 2 title is the first Invacare World Team Cup title won by a Great Britain Men’s team in the 24-year history of the International Tennis Federation’s annual flagship wheelchair tennis team event. Great Britain’s Men now return to World Group 1 after a two-year absence, having been relegated in Brazil in 2006, when an injury-hit team finished 14th.