Unseeded Israeli pair Boas Kramer and Shraga Weinberg will challenge US top seeds David Wagner and Nick Taylor for the gold medal in the Doubles final, while the Americans will face each other in the Quad Singles bronze medal match on Saturday, September 12.
Quad Doubles
• A surprise win by Kramer and Weinberg of Israel in the semifinals will see them challenging top seeds and defending champions Taylor and Wagner of the US. The North Americans have only been beaten three times since their success in Athens.
• The bronze medal match will also feature an unseeded team challenging a seeded pair, with the Dutch male/female duo Boas van Erp and Dorrie Timmermans-van Hall taking on second seeds Jamie Burdekin and Peter Norfolk of Great Britain. Van Erp has some experience, having won the bronze medal in Athens. Norfolk won silver in Athens, although this the first time he has teamed up with Burdekin at the Paralympic Games.
Quad Singles
• The bronze medal match will take place with top seed and Athens silver medalist Wagner facing his compatriot, third seed, as well as Doubles partner, Taylor.
Women's Singles
• The bronze medal match will take place between Dutch fourth seed Jiske Griffioen and French fifth seed Florence Gravelllier. Gravelllier, who competed in Athens four years ago, is the only non-Dutch player to make it this far in the Beijing. She won silver in the 2008 World Championships in France, while Griffioen is the winner of 26 career Singles titles.
Men's Singles
• The semifinals will feature top seed Shingo Kunieda of Japan battling sixth seed Maikel Scheffers of the Netherlands.
• Another Dutch player -- eleventh seed Ronald Vink, who had a surprising win over fourth seed Stephane Houdetof France on Friday -- will hope his luck holds out when he comes up against his compatriot, No. 2 seed and Athens gold medalist Robin Ammerlaan. This is the first time three Dutch Wheelchair Tennis players have made it to Paralympic semifinals.
Men's Doubles
• Fourth seeds Stefan Olsson and Peter Wikstrom of Sweden will challenge Japan's top seeded team and defending champions Shingo Kunieda and Satoshi Saida in the semifinal.
• Scheffers, who will have played his Singles match in the morning, will pair up with Vink in the afternoon. The third seeds will take on second seeds Stephane Houdet and Michael Jeremiasz of France in what could be a close match. Jeremiasz won the Doubles silver medal in Athens but this is Houdet's first Paralympics, although he won gold at the 2008 World Championships in France.
Women's Doubles
• The semifinals will take place with top seeds Griffioen and Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands, who have been beaten only once as a double partnership in 39 tournaments since first pairing up in 2004, going up against fourth seeds Beth Arnoult and Kaitlyn Verfuerth of the United States. The latter pair won gold at the 2007 Parapan American Games.
• Another Dutch team, second seeded Korie Homan and Sharon Walraven, will play third seeds Gravellier and Arlette Racineux of France.
(BOCOG September 13, 2008)