Caverzaschi, Wang and Cayulef hit the heights at Daegu Open
Daniel Caverzaschi, Wang Ziying and Francisco Cayulef bid for back-to-back ITF 1 Series titles on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour this week after sweeping all before them at the 29th Daegu Open, where Caverzaschi and Cayulef both won the first ITF 1 singles titles of their career and Wang outlasted world No.1 Yui Kamiji for the first time.
All three players line up for the Seoul Korea Open as the three premier wheelchair tennis tournaments in Korea Republic come to a climax in the city where the sport made its Paralympic Games debut as an exhibition event in 1988.
Caverzaschi and Wang are now intrinsically linked into wheelchair tennis’s history at the Paralympics after being part of the doubles partnerships that won Spain and China P.R. their first ever Paralympic tennis medals at Paris 2024 and their respective stock has now risen even higher after second seed Caverzaschi beat third seed Casey Ratzlaff 6-1 6-1 in their Daegu Open men’s singles final.
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Caverzaschi left Daegu with singles and doubles titles after partnering Stephane Houdet to the men’s doubles title, giving the Frenchman a brighter end to the tournament than he had experienced in his singles campaign. Top seed Houdet lost out 26 75 64 in the second round to 19-year-old Briton Dahnon Ward, for whom victory over Houdet brought a first career win against a top 10 opponent.
The Korean tournaments have produced a series of career firsts in recent weeks, including a first ITF 2 Series men’s singles title for Ji Zhenxu at the Busan Open, resulting in new career best world ranking at No.16.
However, prior to arriving in Daegu, Caverzaschi had ambitions of cracking the top eight – something he has now accomplished with room to spare after rising to a new career best at No.7 in this week’s rankings.
Wang overcomes Kamiji at the seventh attempt to lift Daegu title
With Ji winning the men’s singles title at the Busan Open for his first ITF 2 title, Chinese players have been at the fore in Korea Republic in the last fotrtnight, with Li Xiaohui making it a Chinese double as she took the women’s title in Busan, beating Wang in two close sets to end March on a high.
However, it was Wang who kept Chinese singles title hopes alive in Daegu after Li bowed out in straight sets in the women’s quarter-finals against sixth seed Manami Tanaka and Zhu Zhenzhen saw her singles campaign come to an end against Kamiji in the semis.
Kamiji booked her place in the final having dropped just three games in three matches and with a seventh Daegu Open women’s title since 2011 seemingly within touching distance. Meanwhile, Wang had already had to battle hard to keep her own title ambitions afloat as she eventually edged out fifth seed Saki Takamuro 6-7(3) 6-0 7-6(4) in the quarter-finals.
But, with what looked on paper like the stiffest of three successive Japanese challenges ahead of her, second seed Wang defied the odds to defeat Kamiji 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5 in the seventh career match between the two players and the third to go to three sets in their last four career meetings.
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To complete a memorable tournament for Wang, in particular, she also partnered Li to add the women’s doubles title as the second seeds beat top seeds Tanaka and Zhu 6-4 2-6 (10-3) after a deciding match tie-break in the final. Opponents in last year’s all-Chinese Paris 2024 Paralympic women’s doubles bronze medal match, reigning Australian Open champions Li and Wang are now unbeaten in their last three tournaments together ahead of their title challenge in Seoul and have reached four finals in five tournaments so far in 2025.
Cayulef lifts maiden ITF 1 Series quad singles title
While Wang’s second ITF 1 Series singles title has taken her more than 180 points nearer to the top three in the women’s singles rankings. Francisco Cayulef starts his Seoul Korean Open title challenge almost 180 points nearer to the top five players in the quad singles rankings after earning his maiden ITF 1 title in Daegu.
After reaching his second successive Australian Open quad singles quarter-final in January, Cayulef reached his career-best ranking at No.6, a position he has since consolidated by reaching the final of the Georgia Open.
The top five are some way ahead of the 38-year-old, but he made inroads into the points deficit after four straight sets wins in Daegu, two of which came across fellow top 10 players as he followed up a 6-4 6-3 semi-final win over David Wagner with a third win this season against Donald Ramphadi, securing the final 6-2 6-2.
However, whereas Caverzaschi and Wang left Daegu with singles and doubles titles, Cayulef came up just short of securing both trophies after meeting Ramphadi in a second title decider.
With both singles finalists pairing up with Brazilian partners for the quad doubles, victory went to Ramphadi and Ymaniti Silva, the top seeds edging out third seeds Cayulef and Leandro Pena 1-6 6-3 (10-8) as the 2023 Australian Open finalists clinched their first title as a partnership.
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