Alfie Hewitt hopes to peak at right time ahead of Wimbledon
The Norfolk wheelchair tennis star, 27, eased into the semi-finals of the LTA's Lexus British Open Roehampton with a comfortable straight sets triumph over Spaniard Daniel Caverzaschi.
Hewett required three sets to battle past Tom Egberink the previous day but showed more signs of his fluent best with a straightforward 6-3 6-4 victory over Caverzaschi, 31, on Wednesday.
The south-west London event functions as the precursor to Wimbledon next week and 33-time Grand Slam champion Hewett, who grabbed both singles and doubles SW19 glory last summer, believes things are clicking into gear nicely.
'It's good to get through and it done in straight sets,' said Hewett, who will face long-term doubles partner Gordon Reid in the semi-finals today.
'He's a tricky opponent who gets a lot of balls back – he's unorthodox at times and never easy.
'There were moments I was happy with and other moments I can improve on for next round in order to go through the gears.
'As a whole I'm really happy – for this tournament I want to try and play some of my best tennis leading into Wimbledon next week.
'It's not always possible, but I want to try and get as close to it as possible.
'Yesterday was a really slow start, but I think since that I can be happy with my level.
'I'm a perfectionist so I'm always looking for more and to be better – I'm making good inroads and steadily getting to the level I want to compete at next week.'
Elsewhere, fellow Norfolk star Ben Bartram fell to a 6-1 6-3 defeat against experienced Argentine Gustavo Fernandez.
Bartram, 19, had edged past American Casey Ratzlaff in three sets the previous day but was unable to join Hewett in the semi-finals after third seed Fernandez, 31, proved too hot to handle.
'It was definitely a tough one,' he said.
'I was trying to find a way to compete throughout the match but was struggling.
'I've been working on new things in training to develop my game – but it's still early stages and this has been a really good experience.'
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