Lapthorne and Whiley into British Open semis

Andy Lapthorne and Jordanne Whiley both booked places in the semi-finals at the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships on a rain-affected day in Nottingham.

Last year’s quad singles runner-up Lapthorne had to contend with a three-hour weather delay during his match against Shraga Weingberg from Israel.

However the world number four, from Eastcote, maintained his focus to come through 6-3, 6-1 and set up a semi-final clash with old rival David Wagner, ranked second in the world.

“The rain delay was difficult and I needed to come out and finish the job well, which I did,” said Lapthorne.

“It will be tough against David – the quad division is tough and there are a lot of players around at the moment so to make the semis is great and I’m really pleased.”

Defending women’s champion Whiley had a long wait to get on court due to the rain, but she showed no ill-effects as she raced to the first set 6-3 against Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock.

Whiley was 3-0 up in the second as well but Ellerbrock fought back and won six games in a row to force a decider.

However, Whiley showed her class to power her way to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win and set up a rematch of last year’s semi-final against world number one Jiske Griffioen.