Dylan Alcott has enhanced his reputation as one of the all-time greats of wheelchair tennis with an 11th quad singles grand slam triumph at the French Open at the expense of his old rival and doubles partner Andy Lapthorne.
A day after the pair had lost together in the doubles final, Alcott continued his domination over his British friend with a 6-2 6-2 procession at Roland Garros to successfully defend the crown he won in the inaugural edition of the French event last year.
The triumph made handsome amends for Alcott’s shock defeat to Sam Schroder in the US Open final, which was his only defeat in a grand slam final and his only loss in his 19 matches this year, as he added this second French title to his six Australian Open crowns, two US Open victories and last year’s first Wimbledon championship.
The double Paralympic gold medallist from Melbourne had only an early moment of concern in his 51-minute triumph on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, as he lost the opening two games to Lapthorne only to immediately strike back.
Once he had recovered the break and then grabbed another in a tough sixth game, the 29-year-old took firm control of the match to annex the set in 27 minutes.
Lapthorne finally broke a run of seven straight games lost in the second set but after the pair had exchanged breaks, Alcott raced away with the last three games to win the 37th singles title of his glittering career.