Scintillating start for Alcott in Rio
The No.1 seed in the quad wheelchair tennis event at the Rio Paralympics, Dylan Alcott didn't drop a game in a commanding first-round win.
Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10 September 2016 | tennis.com.au
Dylan Alcott began his Rio Paralympics campaign off on the perfect note with a flawless first-round victory on Friday.
The No.1 seed in the quads event defeated Shraga Weinberg of Israel 6-0 6-0 in just 41 minutes.
“It doesn’t get any better than love love, does it?” said Alcott.
“I played really well and Shraga played very well as well – I think he was a bit nervous early on – but I went out there with a game plan and executed it and enjoyed myself. It was great to get a win under the belt.”
Next up for Alcott is American Nicholas Taylor in the quarterfinals.
“I’m not ashamed to say that I’m here to win a gold medal,” said the Australian.
“In order to do that you’ve got to knuckle down and win every match, whichever opponent comes up, so one game at a time is exactly right.
“I’m really enjoying myself … hopefully I can have a successful week here because I’ve been dreaming of this for four years.”
Joining Alcott in the quarters was fellow Aussie Heath Davidson.
Davidson showed incredible grit to dig out a 2-6 7-5 6-1 win over Bryan Barten of the United States, a match lasting two hours and 13 minutes.
He moves on to a battle in the last eight with Brit Andy Lapthorne.
Ben Weekes was another Australian winner on Friday; the New South Welshman produced a great performance to see off Spain’s Francesc Tur 7-5 6-3.
Weekes advanced to a second-round meeting with No.7 seed Stefan Olsson of Sweden.