A champion is in his fifties!

The age difference was significant, but not too great. In the absence of the injured super champion Alfie Hewett, the Briton who has won the ABN AMRO Open in the wheelchair category for the past five years, Stéphane Houdet seized what was perhaps his last chance to capture a trophy. The Frenchman, 54 years young, defeated the 25-year-old Spaniard Martin de la Puente in the final with a score of 6-3, 6-4. "This is my third title here now at this great tournament, and I couldn’t be happier,” said Houdet, who was already there when the wheelchair event was first held at Rotterdam Ahoy in 2009.

On this Sunday afternoon, sixteen years later, the man from Paris still excelled with clever, effective serves and attacking play. Despite a 29-year difference, he manoeuvred his wheelchair more efficiently and at a faster pace than De la Puente, a hard-hitter who started the final as the favourite, but gradually appeared more tense. "I wasn’t having a good day; I made far too many mistakes today,” the Spanish number 3 in the world rankings readily admitted at the prize-giving ceremony at the Wheelchair Arena.

Despite Alfie Hewett’s absence in the men’s event (and Diede de Groot, who had hip surgery, in the women’s event), tournament director Esther Vergeer looked back with great pleasure on this year’s wheelchair tennis at Ahoy. "This was also a final of the highest level. Stéphane, you still set the standard so high; those young guys still can’t keep up with you,” said the seven-time Paralympic champion, full of praise, and then also extended that praise to the main sponsor.

"For seventeen years now, the ABN AMRO Open has been setting the global standard for organising wheelchair tennis. I would like to thank the bank once again for this unconditional support, and the same goes for the people of Rotterdam Ahoy. It was really a great edition again this year.”

The final in the women’s doubles still had to be played, which made it an even more beautiful final day. That final ended in a victory for a renowned Dutch couple. Top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot left the number two seeds, Angelica Bernal from Colombia, and Lucy Shuker from Great Britain, without a chance, with a score of 6-2, 6-2.