Tournament Winner Lizzy de Greef Surprises Herself

She certainly did not start the wheelchair tennis tournament as a title favourite. Nevertheless, Lizzy de Greef (20) claimed the ABN AMRO trophy in singles. She triumphed in the Wheelchair Arena with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over compatriot Jiske Griffioen. For the young De Greef, the tournament victory was a first in several respects.

Two years ago, at the first edition of the women’s wheelchair tournament in Ahoy, De Greef was defeated 6-0, 6-0 by the experienced Griffioen in the first round. Last year, the same Griffioen was clearly too strong for the former junior world champion.

This week though, everything fell into place for De Greef, currently ranked world number 10. On her way to the final, she defeated Chilean Macarena Cabrillana and Angélica Bernal from Colombia—challenging matches which she tackled energetically and efficiently. Today, she quickly took the first set before Griffioen fought her way back into the match. "Even when things didn’t go as well in the second set, I always believed that I could still win," said De Greef, who remained composed as she secured each game that brought her closer to the trophy.
 

Asked about her progress over the last two years, De Greef’s face lit up with a broad smile. "Two years ago, I was defeated by Jiske in 40 minutes here in Ahoy. A lot has happened since then. Of course, I have gained a lot more experience, but I have also put in an incredible amount of training hours,” said the tennis player from Alphen aan den Rijn, who trains six days a week.

The reward for all that hard work came this week, where a new winner would be crowned in Ahoy anyway due to the absence of multiple-time champion Diede de Groot, who is out injured. De Greef: "Of course, I secretly hoped at the beginning of the week that it would end like this, but I didn't count on it. To have won such a great tournament on home soil is fantastic.”

On the men’s side, Tom Egberink was able to celebrate his triumph in the doubles tournament. Together with Belgian partner Joachim Gerard, he won the doubles trophy after battling against the tournament’s second seeds, the Spanish-French pair formed by Caverzaschi and Houdet.

Earlier, in the semifinals of the singles, Egberink could not make it: he lost to the veteran Stéphane Houdet. In the other semi-final, Ruben Spaargaren was eliminated by tournament favourite Martin de la Puente. Houdet and De la Puente will compete for the ultimate prize on Sunday at 13:00 in the Wheelchair Arena.

This titanic battle of generations will be followed by the final event of the wheelchair tennis tournament: the women’s doubles final, featuring Dutch pair Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot, who will compete against the Colombian and English pair Angélica Bernal and Lucy Shuker.