Gerard beat Scheffers (pictured above) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals and face Briton Gordon Reid.

Reid beat South African Sydwell Mathonsi 6-0, 6-1 to make the last eight.

Fellow Briton David Phillipson beat compatriot Marc McCarroll 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarter finals and take on Dutchman Ronald Vink.

"That's a great result for me and although I think we both played quite well, I'm just pleased I had enough to win it in the end," said Phillipson, who has been selected to represent Britain at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

"I know Nottingham Tennis Centre well because I've played a lot here and I'm local to the area so it was great to play in front of friends and family."

France's Michael Jeremiasz will be favourite after the former world number one beat Britain's Alex Jewitt 6-0, 6-2.

In the women's singles, Esther Vergeer's long unbeaten run shows no sign of being beaten anytime soon – she sailed through to the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Colombia's Angelica Bernal.


The Dutchwoman is unbeaten in 462 singles matches stretching back to 2003.

Britain's Lucy Shuker (pictured above, left) beat compatriot Louise Hunt 6-2, 6-1 to make it to the last eight and a clash with Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany.

British pair Andy Lapthorne and Jamie Burdekin made serene progress on home soil as they reached the quad singles semi-finals.

Lapthorne beat South African Lucas Sithole 6-1, 6-3 to make it to the last four at the Nottingham Tennis Centre for a second successive year.

Jamie Burdekin crushed American Bryan Barten 6-2, 6-1 to set up a clash with Barten's compatriot, world number one David Wagner.

Wagner beat Israel's Shraga Weinberg 6-3, 6-2.

Another Israeli, Noam Gershony, stands in Lapthorne's way of the final after he beat another Briton, Adam Field, 6-1, 6-0 in his quarterfinal.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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