Saturday 28 January 2012

Norfolk Wins Quad Singles


Britain's Peter Norfolk won his fifth Australian Open quad wheelchair singles title with victory over David Wagner.

Second seed Norfolk won 4-6 6-4 6-2 to avenge his defeat by the American top seed in the round-robin stage of the tournament on Friday.

The double Paralympic champion led 3-1 in the first set before Wagner hit back to take the next four and the set.

Norfolk broke Wagner's serve to love to level the match and built a 5-1 lead in the decider before serving out the win.

The man known as the 'Quadfather' later tweeted: "Yeeehaa I have just won my 5th Ozzie open Grand slam."

He later said: "I struggled for a while to find my game but I love the pressure of playing in a major final and I knew if I stuck with it, I could find my rhythm.

"I'm absolutely thrilled with my fifth singles title at the Australian Open and I hope I can use this as my base for a very successful 2012."

Wagner won the title in Melbourne 12 months ago but Norfolk was victorious in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

He also triumphed with Andy Lapthorne against Wagner and Israel's Noam Gershony in the doubles on Thursday.