Paralympians compete in wheelchair tennis at Wimbledon

From Wimbledon.org. In the picture, Robin Ammerlaan and Shingo Kunieda are in action in the wheelchair doubles against Maikel Scheffers and Ronald Vink.

There are Paralympics champions aplenty in the two Wheelchair Doubles finals at The Championships, while Lucy Shuker bids to become only the second Briton win to win a Wimbledon Wheelchair Doubles titles.

History will be made as the inaugural Wimbledon Women's Wheelchair Doubles champions are crowned following the first final of the day at 12.00 July 5 on Court 4.

Dutch top seeds Korie Homan and Esther Vergeer will start as hot favourites against Shuker and Daniela di Toro of Australia after winning their semi-final on Friday on Friday 6-0, 6-0, having come to Wimbledon as Australian Open and Roland Garros champions. The only previous doubles match between the same two pairings came in this year’s Australian Open semi-final, which Homan and Vergeer won 6-3, 6-1.

Whatever happens in Sunday's final, the amazing 27-year-old Vergeer will leave The All England Club this evening with one of the longest current winning streaks in world sport as she is undefeated in 360 singles matches since the end of January 2003.

In winning her third successive Paralympic women’s singles title in Beijing last September, 27-year-old Vergeer faced the first match point against her since that last loss, with Homan being silver medallist in Beijing and the player to have earned that solitary match point.

However, it was a different story in the women’s doubles final as Homan paired up with Sharon Walraven to upset top seeds Vergeer and Jiske Griffioen in an all-Dutch final. The result ended Vergeer’s bid for a sixth successive Paralympic gold medal in singles and doubles.

Walraven and Griffioen were both beaten in each of Friday’s two women’s semi-finals here at The Championships on Friday, while Homan and Vergeer remain unbeaten as a doubles partnership in six tournaments together since 2004, one of those coming at the 2005 US Open at Flushing Meadows.

Shuker and di Toro are playing their first Grand Slam final, having won one of the nine tournaments they have paired up for, and will start as underdogs, but to add greater spice to the contest, di Toro was the last player to beat Vergeer in singles competition, earning a straight sets win in Sydney six and a half years ago.

Sunday's Men's Wheelchair Doubles final on Court 4 will also be a hugely intriguing contest as French top seeds and Beijing Paralympic champions Stephane Houdet and Michael Jeremiasz take on Japan’s Shingo Kunieda and Robin Ammerlaan of the Netherlands in the first match between these two pairings, although they have played each other many times with different doubles partners.