British stars Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid to meet for 40th time at Cinch Championships

Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid will meet for the 40th time in Saturday’s wheelchair singles semi-finals at the cinch Championships after both former champions eased through their opening singles matches on Friday at The Queen’s Club.

World No.2 Hewett, the 2019 champion, took just 59 minutes to beat Pakistan’s Asif Abbasi 6-1, 6-0, while world No.8 and 2021 champion Reid defeated India’s Manojkanth Somasundaram 6-0, 6-0.

The British No.1 and No.2 will now play their respective singles quarter-final opponents in Saturday’s doubles semi-finals. But it’s their latest singles clash – their third on grass since their 2019 final at The Queen’s Club - which is poised to thrill tennis fans watching courtside in west London and those watching on TV and live stream from 12 noon on Saturday. Reid said:

”We’ve had a few big matches in some big situations over the years. We’ve only played a couple of times on grass before. Here in the final a few years ago and then at Wimbledon last year I wasn’t fully fit (while recovering from a wrist injury), so I’m looking forward to the match. Alfie is one of the guys to beat at the top of the game so I’m looking forward to that challenge and hopefully we can put on a good show tomorrow.”

Defending champion and second seed Joachim Gerard of Belgium will play Frenchman Stephane Houdet in the other singles semi-final at the bottom of the draw, meaning that four of the sport’s most decorated players and four former world No.1s will contend for a place in Sunday’s finals.

Gerard and Houdet will also pair up for the doubles semi-finals, in which they will face Dermot Bailey and Andrew Penney, the ITF2 tournament’s other all-British partnership.

World No.4 Gerard beat Bailey 6-1, 6-1 as he opened the defence of his singles title, while Houdet’s experience ultimately proved too much for Penney as the 19-time Grand Slam champion beat the 18-year-old Brit 6-3, 6-0

Streaming of wheelchair tennis matches at the cinch Championships is available across BBC Sport and LTA digital and social media channels.

For further news and cinch Championships updates, head to lta.org.uk or keep up to date with all the action on Twitter @the_LTA or @WChairTennisGB.