HALESOWEN wheelchair tennis star Jordanne Whiley bagged a brace of titles at the Canadian Classic in Toronto.
Whiley, a member of the LTA’s GB Wheelchair Tennis World Class Performance Programme, won the women’s singles and doubles at the ITF 2 Series event in Canada before moving on to this week’s US Open USTA Wheelchair Championships in St. Louis.
The 27-year-old 10-time Grand Slam champion’s success in Toronto has significantly improved her chances of returning to Grand Slam tennis in 2020 after she moved up three places to number six in the women’s singles world rankings for her highest ranking since March 2017.
She received a wild card for her latest appearance at Wimbledon in July, and would need to be inside the world’s top seven to earn direct acceptance for the Australian Open in January.
Whiley, who returned to international competition in February after the best part of 18 months on maternity leave for the birth of her first child, Jackson, said: "Eight months ago I never imagined I’d be in this position. It’s quite exciting. I didn’t play my best tennis this last week in Toronto, but mentally I was strong, so I'm very happy with that. And I finished with a strong performance in the doubles, so I’m really pleased as we head to the Super Series in St. Louis."
Whiley justified top seeding in Toronto, beating Parapan American Games medallist Emmy Kaiser of the USA without dropping a game and third Momoko Ohtani 7-6(4), 6-2 for the Briton’s fourth win over the Japanese player this season.
An all-British final saw Whiley go to three sets with world No.10 Lucy Shuker for the first time this season, but former world No3 Whiley dominated the final set to win her sixth singles title since her comeback. She also partnered Japan’s Manami Tanaka to back-to-back straight sets wins in the women’s doubles for her fifth doubles title of 2019.
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