Guy Sasson and Niels Vink are hungry to claim the calendar-year Grand Slam in 2026 – and the top-seeded pair moved emphatically towards that objective with victory over Heath Davidson and Andy Lapthorne in the Australian Open quad wheelchair doubles final on Friday.
With their 6-3 6-1 win over the Australian-British duo at KIA Arena, Vink and Sasson lifted their fourth successive quad wheelchair doubles Grand Slam trophy. And while they now hold all four doubles majors, Vink and Sasson have another major goal in sight.
“It’s amazing that we won all four of them right now,” said 23-year-old Vink. “But we want them all in one season. That’s what we said when we won last year.”
While the scoreline suggests it was a relatively one-sided match, Sasson explained the scoring system could have changed the outcome of the first set and, ultimately, the match.
“The way those matches are designed and the rules with deciding points is really tricky. With the deciding point, it can go either way. In the first set it was close and we had to fight every game,” Sasson said.
Vink explained that he started to relax after the pair won the first said. “When we are relaxed, we play so much better,” the Dutch player said.
After losing two previous Australian Open doubles finals - once with Vink in 2025 and once with South African Donald Ramphadi in 2024 – the third time proved a charm for Israel’s Sasson.
“In the last two years coming into this final match we were the favourites and I came to this match very relaxed and we didn’t get the result that we wanted,” the 45-year-old said.
“This time I also felt that we are very strong and we played very well but I had my thoughts about the last two years. Once we were getting going, I felt that it was going our way.”
Alongside his doubles victory, Vink also advanced to his second successive AO quad singles final with a 6-1 6-1 victory over Sasson.
“I’m really happy with my level this week. Third time final so that’s amazing. It’s the only one I haven’t won so I want this one really bad,” said Vink after outclassing his doubles partner in singles.
Clinical from the No.1 seed 💪
The defending champion Niels Vink puts on a show, defeating Guy Sasson 6-1 6-1. Again, he advances to the Men's Quad Wheelchair Singles Final at the #AusOpen 🫡 @wwos • @espn • @tntsports • @wowowtennis • #AO26 pic.twitter.com/Mnt4g6uPTn— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 30, 2026
Vink will be a familiar foe for Dutch No.2 seed Sam Schroder, who denied him a career Grand Slam at AO 2023 and AO 2025. The top-ranked Vink is confident of ending Schroder’s run of six straight Australian Open titles.
“I played him [Sam Schroder] in Adelaide and I won two sets. I played really good against Guy [Sasson] today and hopefully I can do the same tomorrow,” he said.
Vink and Schroder are both bidding to win an eighth quad wheelchair singles Grand Slam title at AO 2026 and claim sole ownership of outright second most Grand Slams behind Dylan Alcott, who finished his career with 15 majors.
In a shock result, Chinese third seed, Xiaohui Li upset defending Australian Open champion Yui Kamiji with a 3-6 6-2 7-6(8) victory in the women’s wheelchair singles semifinal.
After dropping the first set, Li found another gear in the second, adopting a more aggressive approach before a tight third set was decided by a match tiebreak.
Li will play six-time Australian Open champion Diede De Groot, who defeated Ziying Wang 6-4 3-6 7-6(9) in a tough three-set semifinal.
Meanwhile defending men’s wheelchair singles champion, Alfie Hewett was stunned by Spanish third seed, Martin de la Puente, who claimed a 6-4 6-4 victory in the semifinal.
Tokito Oda, roaring back into the final 🤩 pic.twitter.com/dgj7OOddtc
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 30, 2026
World No.1 Tokito Oda advanced with a 6-1 7-6(2) victory over his doubles partner, Gustavo Fernandez, in the other semifinal.
In a tight second set, Oda upped the aggression to win on his terms, storming home in the tiebreak.
“It’s something special to me because it’s a special year for wheelchair players. It’s the 50thanniversary. I can’t believe this moment,” the Japanese star said in his on-court interview.
Oda and Fernandez then put their singles rivalry aside as they partnered to take out the men’s wheelchair doubles title with a 6-2 6-1 victory over No.1 seeds Daniel Caverzaschi and Ruben Spaargaren in the final.
Chinese No.1 seeds Li and Wang successfully defended their AO 2025 women’s wheelchair doubles title with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Japan’s Yui Kamiji and China’s Zhenzhen Zhu.
Displaying a high-risk brand of tennis, the Chinese pair hit 29 winners, despite hitting 38 unforced errors, proving the old adage that fortune favours the brave.
In the junior boys’ doubles wheelchair final, Great Britain’s Lucas John De Gouveia and Belgian Alexander Lantermann defeated Aussie Arlo Shawcross and Great Britain’s Matthew Knoesen 6-2 6-3.
“It’s my first Grand Slam and it was very accommodating and it was an awesome experience,” said a grateful Shawcross.
The junior girls’ wheelchair doubles final saw No.2 seeds Lucy Foyster and Seira Matsuoka defeat the top pairing of Luna Gryp and Lucy Heald 6-3 7-5 in a tight battle.