French Open wheelchair tennis: Gordon Reid wins first Grand Slam

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Gordon Reid and Shingo KuneidaImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Gordon Reid and Shingo Kuneida were the second seeds at Roland Garros

Scotsman Gordon Reid captured his first Grand Slam title as he partnered Shingo Kunieda of Japan to victory in the French Open men's wheelchair doubles.

The 23-year-old, Britain's top wheelchair player, and world number one Kunieda beat Gustavo Fernandez and Nicolas Peifer 6-1 7-6 (7-1).

But England's Jordanne Whiley failed to win a sixth consecutive women's Slam.

She and Japanese partner Yui Kamiji lost to Dutch pair Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 10-8.

Reid, from Helensburgh, told BBC Radio Scotland on Saturday that winning his maiden Slam was "an amazing feeling".

"I think we lost the first game and then we won nine games on the trot," he said. "We were 6-1 and 3-0 up within 30 minutes.

"I think I made one unforced error in the first set so I was really solid and Shingo was the same.

"But as we had one hand on the trophy, it (the match) was quite tight and there were a lot of good rallies but we pulled through in the tie-break.

"I hope the win raises the profile of our sport. We need to get more people playing.

"My target is to continue the success in the Grand Slams and take down some more doubles titles and get my hands on some singles trophies as well."

The British number one and world number three revealed that Andy Murray was among those offering their congratulations.

He said: "Last night as we were leaving the tennis centre, Andy and his team came over and said 'well done' and took the time to ask about the match.

"That was a nice touch from him, considering he was looking forward to getting to his bed."

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