Jordanne Whiley off to winning start at NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters
Halesowen's Jordanne Whiley made a winning start to her bid for a first NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters title yesterday with a comfortable straight sets victory over fellow Brit Lucy Shuker.
Whiley saw off Shuker in her first of three round-robin group matches at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
This week is the first time since 2012 that Whiley and Shuker have both played in the same event, at the same venue where they joined forces to win the women's doubles bronze medal at the London Paralympics.
As they went head-to-head for the fifth time this season, world No. 4 Whiley built on a 4-1 lead to get the better of a succession of service breaks towards the end of the first set.
The British No.1 then earned a 3-0 second set lead before going on to complete a 6-4, 6-2 victory for her fifth win over world No. 7 Shuker in the five matches between them in 2015.
"I was a bit nervous to start with but it was good to get the first win in the pool," said Whiley.
"Lucy played a good match and used different tactics from the previous times we've played and that threw me for a bit. However, once I settled into the game, my power and shots combined with a fast surface gave me the confidence to play my tennis."
Whiley plays Dutch world No.1 Jiske Griffioen today before her final round-robin match against Germany's world No. 5 Sabine Ellerbrock on Friday.
US Open champion Whiley beat both Griffioen and Ellerbrock en route to winning the British Open in Nottingham in July.
The top two players in the four-strong group go forward to Saturday's semi-finals.
