Australia’s Saalim Naser has won through to the semifinals of the inaugural junior wheelchair Grand Slam tournament at the US Open.
New York, USA, 9 September 2022 | Matt Trollope
Australia’s Saalim Naser has enjoyed a win in the opening round of the inaugural junior wheelchair Grand Slam tournament at the US Open.
The junior world No.6 beat Briton Joshua Johns in straight sets today to set up a semifinal meeting with top seed Ben Bartram, also of Great Britain.
It is the continuation of a memorable season for the 18-year-old Melburnian, who earlier in 2022 teamed with Riley Dumsday and Benjamin Wenzel to clinch the World Team Cup title for Australia.
With Australian doubles star Storm Sanders – who is through to both the mixed and women’s doubles semifinals in New York – watching on from the side of the court, Naser executed big serves and groundstrokes to complete victory in under an hour.
“Yeah, I loved it (the support). Looked up to her when I won the points,” Naser told tennis.com.au after the 6-3 6-3 triumph.
Serving in the seventh game with scores locked at 3-3, Naser faced a break point but saved it thanks to a succession of heavy backhands, eventually ending the point with a backhand winner up the line.
It swung the momentum in his favour, and he went on to win four straight games.
The pair traded breaks in the second set until the eighth game, which Naser won to arrive at 6-3 5-3.
Johns served to stay in the match, but dished up two double faults, and on match point sent a forehand into the net to confirm victory for the Aussie.
“It is very cool (to be in the semifinals). Started off playing really well. He played really good as well, but yeah, just got the better of him today,” Naser said.
“I was very nervous going into the match. But as soon as my serves were going in, I was getting shots in, it went away.
“(Bartram is) a great player. I’ve played him before. I’m going to have to play my best tennis to win.”
Making history 💪
Saalim Naser is set to become Australia’s first ever junior wheelchair Grand Slam competitor at the 2022 #USOpen 👇#GoAussies
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) September 8, 2022
Naser identifies his serve and heavy groundstrokes as his strengths, weapons he has developed with the help of Greg Crump, Tennis Australia’s National Wheelchair Development Squad Coach.
Since the beginning of the year he has trained full-time at Melbourne’s National…
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