Gordon Reid buried the hatchet with Alfie Hewett to claim a spot in the doubles final at the LTA’s Lexus British Open Roehampton.
The Scottish wheelchair tennis star, 33, had been beaten by long-term partner in crime Hewett, 27, in the singles semi-final on Thursday morning.
But they joined forces later that day to topple Spaniard Daniel Caverzaschi and Chinese player Zhenxu Ji in the doubles equivalent to book their place in Friday’s showpiece.
Reid, who has won a remarkable 23 Grand Slams alongside Hewett, joked they had to reconcile their singles differences in south-west London but revelled in their power-packed approach as they grabbed a 6-3 6-3 victory.
“We had a little fight over in the NTC [National Tennis Centre] at lunchtime,” laughed Reid, who had gone down 6-2 6-0 against 33-time Grand Slam champion Hewett earlier that day.
“We had it out, but there were no black eyes – we kissed and made up and went again, and that's the way it's got to be.
“We played well – we tried to be aggressive and keep the points short and when we were serving well it was really effective.
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“These guys are a tough team so we're happy to come out with the score we got today.”
Reid and Hewett will now meet second seeds Martin De la Puente – Hewett’s opponent in the men’s singles final after beating experienced Argentine Gustavo Fernandez – and Dutch player Ruben Spaargaren in today’s final.
They were made to wait a long time for their clash against Caverzaschi and Zhenxu after fellow Brit Gregory Slade, who competes in the quad discipline, thrashed out a marathon match against Dutch opponent Sam Schroder in his semi-final.
The home favourite fell to an agonising 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-5 defeat and Hewett, the defending singles and doubles champion heading into Wimbledon next week, said: “Greg gave us the runaround with his match today!
“We got ready three times, but that’s quite normal in tennis.
“You never know if you’re going to be on in five minutes or another hour so you just have to keep you self occupied then when you come out you go for it.
“You’ve got to be able to switch off after a match and unwind, refuel, do all your recovery and once it’s time to go again, you start getting ready.”
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website.
