Oda three-peat finale to RG wheelchair events

Oda went into Saturday’s final with a 10-9 record against the Brit, but had won both their previous encounters on clay, including the Roland-Garros final in 2023.

Taking to Court Suzanne-Lenglen following the trophy ceremony for Oda’s compatriot Yui Kamiji in the women’s singles, the two men faced a crowd eager for more.

A first set lasting 40 minutes featured multiple breaks as the pair settled into the task at hand, before Oda fought off a late challenge from Hewett to serve it out 6-4.

Hewett’s six aces across the two sets helped the No.2 seed take the fight to his opponent, particularly serving at 1-3 in the second where he wriggled out of trouble from 15-40.

In a tight tiebreak, his sixth and final ace was not enough to swing it and Oda took the second set and the title after 1h 39m.

The jubilant teenager admitted to fans on court afterwards that it had been a “tough match” and spoke of his love for Paris, reflecting that one of the kanji (characters) in his name in Japanese is reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower, giving the city a special place in his heart.

Before Oda and Hewett took to Suzanne-Lenglen, Kamiji avenged her quarter-final defeat last year to win the women’s wheelchair singles final against Dutch multi-Grand Slam winner Aniek Van Koot with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Kamiji’s win takes her to five Roland-Garros titles, matching the tally of Dutch star Diede de Groot, althought she admitted to playing with a wrist injury on Saturday that she sustained at the World Team Cup in May.

“I didn’t want to use my energy a lot, so the points [needed] to be short and have to be smart and take first chance,” she said. “It was really simple, and it really worked.”

Over on Roland-Garros’s famous gladiatorial Court 14, Israel’s Guy Sasson secured a second successive title in the quad singles, beating No.1 seed Niels Vink.

Paralympic quad singles bronze medal winner Sasson only started playing tennis seriously in 2018 and won his first Grand Slam title in 2024.

He told his post-match press conference that he had been suffering from a virus earlier in the week and although he was under the weather, knew that when up against someone of Vink’s quality he would have to throw everything at it.

“You've got to be here, and you've got to perform," he said. "Even though I felt not in my best, I knew that at the end of the day I have to fight and to win it, and I'm glad that I was able to do it.”

While across the net from Vinks on Saturday, the pair had teamed up on Friday to take the title in the quad doubles. “To win a match against him is incredible, and it means a lot to me,” Sasson told the crowds on court after his singles victory, adding to Vinks, “It was an honour to play against you and to be at your side for the doubles.”

In the last wheelchair match of Roland-Garros 2025, Hewett once again took to Court Suzanne-Lenglen, this time with longtime partner Gordon Reid to contest the men’s doubles.

With 22 Grand Slam doubles titles, including five at Roland-Garros, the team are the most dominant wheelchair pairing on the tour.

Victory over experienced Frenchman Stephane Houdet, who had teamed up with Oda for the first time at a Grand Slam, gave Hewett and Reid a sixth consecutive doubles title here in Paris, to add to the Paralympic gold they won on the Roland-Garros clay last summer.