Cantley wheelchair tennis star Alfie Hewett secured the biggest win of his career yesterday at the Open de la Baie de Somme in France.

The 16-year-old world number one ranked junior beat men's singles world number seven Nicolas Peifer of France 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the ITF 1 Series event.

Hewett is playing his third successive tournament in Europe and his second in France in three weeks after reaching his first ITF 1 Series men's doubles final at the Sardinia Open in Italy last week.

Hewett reached successive singles quarter-finals in Le de Re and Sardinia over the last two weeks, bowing out to Belgium's world number five ranked player Joachim Gerard on both occasions.

The British men's number four and world ranked number 17 was never behind against the experienced Peifer, setting up a quarter-final clash against his doubles partner this week, British world number three and defending Baie de Somme champion Gordon Reid.

'I'm very happy with how I played today, it's my first win over a world top-10 ranked senior player and the last few weeks have been great.

'My tennis is really progressing at the moment and I'm really enjoying playing against the top players in wheelchair tennis,' said Hewett, who partnered Frenchman Michael Jeremiasz to reach the men's doubles final at the Sardinia Open last week.

Hewett and Jeremiasz were only denied the title by top seeds Gerard and Stephane Houdet in the final.

'I'm learning a huge amount and getting better every time and it's great experience to play doubles with the likes of Michael and Gordon,' added Hewett, who is one of six British players on the Tennis Foundation's Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme contesting this week's tournament.