Alfie Hewett bidding for glory at Australian Open
Alfie Hewett has reached the doubles final at the Australian Open. Photo: PA - Credit: PA
Alfie Hewett will be going for glory Down Under on Friday morning.
The former City College Norwich student reached the final of the wheelchair doubles at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Hewett and Argentina Gustavo Fernandez made a remarkable recovery against French top seeds and Paralympic gold medallists Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer to edge a deciding match tie-break for a 1-6, 6-1 (10-7) victory. Hewett and Fernandez are still unbeaten as a partnership after pairing up for the first time to win last week at the Melbourne Open.
Hewett and Fernandez will face Gordon Reid and Belgium's Joachim Gerard, who defeated Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands and Australian Ben Weekes 6-0, 6-1.
'I'm very happy to have reached my first Australian Open doubles final,' said the 19-year-old Hewett, from Cantley.
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'We both got off to a slow start and the French pair dominated some of the rallies. However, I felt it was more of us making wrong decisions and unforced errors, so after that set we regrouped and told ourselves to go for it – we wanted to fight for every ball and be aggressive.
'That's what we did and we eventually found our length and rhythm. We dominated play after that and took it to them, taking time away and putting pressure on them. They broke down and made errors, so I couldn't be happier with our resilience and determination to fight back.
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'Tomorrow will be a great opportunity for us, we are both going to enjoy the occasion and once again give all that we have got.
'To reach a final at my first Australian Open is really exciting and hopefully me and Gustavo can maintain our unbeaten record tomorrow.'
The victory will be especially sweet after Hewett went down to world number two, Houdet, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in his singles match earlier this week.
He said: 'I was disappointed to lose my singles match to Stephane in three close sets yesterday, so it's nice to get back on court and win this one today.'
The final line-up means a British player is guaranteed is bring a prestigious title home from Melbourne.
