Photo: Scott Grant

Rob Shaw – Canada’s top-ranked wheelchair tennis player – had a fantastic week in Ramat HaSharon, Israel, dropping only four games in three matches en route to capturing the 2022 Israel Open crown.

As the tournament’s third seed, Shaw was awarded a bye in the first round, then went on to win his quarter-final and semi-final matches with ease. He saved his best for last, defeating former world No. 4 Itay Erenlib of Israel in the championship match by a score of 6-0, 6-0.

Shaw was quite pleased with his performance, feeling he executed his game well against all his adversaries. The 2020 Paralympian is looking forward to maintaining this same drive going into his next few tournaments.

“This was my first singles tournament victory in almost three years because of COVID,” said Shaw. “I thought I executed my strategies extremely well against all my opponents, and it just feels really good to play good tennis again. Hopefully, I can keep this momentum going and turn out some more positive results in the coming tournaments.”

Shaw, the current world No. 12 in the quad category, won the Israel Open back in 2019 (on top of seven other titles). During this time, he would reach a career-high ranking of world No. 8. After this week’s win, Shaw should be in great shape to crack back into the Top 10 and will have his eyes set on topping his 2019 ranking in the coming weeks.

His next events will be held in Canada at the St. Hyacinthe International Open in Quebec from June 9-12 and the Janco Steel Wheelchair Tennis Classic in Grimsby, Ontario, from June 14-17.

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