GORDON REID and Alfie Hewett have made the perfect start to their bid for a fifth successive French Open wheelchair doubles title.

The British pair wasted no time in getting their bid for Roland Garros glory under way, defeating the Dutch pair of Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers in straight sets in Wednesday’s quarter-final.

Having defeated the same duo 6-0, 6-0 in Rome last month, Reid and Hewett, the tournament’s reigning champions and top seeds, were hot favourites going into their last eight tie, and the 19-time Grand Slam champions lived up to their billing with a 6-2, 6-0 win.

It was the Brits’ eighth win over Egberink and Scheffers in 10 matches and puts them one match away from a sixth French Open doubles final.

The former Hermitage Academy pupil said: “The standard in Rome was very high. We spoke about that before today’s match and said we can’t just expect the same thing to happen.

“But there were two or three things that we could focus on and that were in our control, and we did those things well.

“It was a good first match that we can take forward for the rest of the tournament.”

Reid and Hewett's semi-final opponents will be either Fernandez or Frenchman Stephane Houdet, or the pairing of Takashi Sanada of Japan and the Netherlands' Ruben Spaargaren. 

Sadly the 32-year-old’s wait for a first French Open wheelchair singles title goes on after he was beaten 6-0, 6-4 by Hewett in the pair’s quarter-final earlier in the day.

Hewett raced to the first set of the all-British singles quarter-final in just 20 minutes as Reid managed to win just six points.

However, with Hewett and Reid meeting in the last eight in Paris for the third time since 2018 and going head-to-head in a Grand Slam match for the eighth time, Reid made a brighter start to the second set, breaking world No.1 Hewett’s serve to love in the opening game.

But when Reid missed his target with an overhead smash in the eighth game of the second set it proved pivotal, handing Hewett a crucial two-game cushion at 5-3, and the three-time champion finished a fine performance with a powerful crosscourt forehand service return.

Hewett, who will now play Argentina’s world No.3 Gustavo Fernandez, the player the Briton beat in the 2017 final on his French Open debut, said: “It was a strong first set. I came out of the blocks flying and produced probably one of the best serving displays that I’ve had in a long while.

“You could see that Gordon had a complete change of tactics and style for the second set and wanted the points to be shorter and it was fairly nip and tuck for the majority of that set.

“But I’m happy that I didn’t lose my focus on what I was trying to do and maintained my level really well.”