HELENSBURGH hero Gordon Reid has started 2024 the way he hopes to go on - with victory in his first doubles tournament of the year.

The former Hermitage Academy pupil and fellow Brit Alfie Hewett saw off second seeds Joachim Gerard and Stephane Houdet 6-3, 1-6, (10-8) in the final to win their second Melbourne Wheelchair Open title.

Their victory made for the ideal warm-up ahead of the Australian Open wheelchair tournament, which starts at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

Top seeds Hewett and Reid built on a 4-1 lead to take the opening set and made a fast start to the deciding match tie-break after opening up a 3-0 lead in their fourth career match against the Belgian, French pairing.

However, Hewett and Reid, who are ranked the number one doubles pair in the world, had to recover from 5-4 down before wrapping up their 45th men's doubles title together.

This victory places Hewett and Reid in perfect stead leading into their quest for a fifth successive Australian Open title.

However, it wasn't to be for Hewett earlier in the day in the singles event, with the world No.1 missing out to Tokito Oda 6-2, 7-6(6).

Hewett found himself down 5-0 in the opening set of a high-quality final and Oda made the most of every opportunity to take time away from the Brit.

Despite Hewett battling back from 2-0 down to force a second set tie-break, Oda made a fast start to the break to eventually wrap up the title.