Melbourne, 25 November 2010 | tennis.com.au
Australian wheelchair tennis player Daniela Di Toro will end the year ranked No. 2 in the world after finishing runner-up in the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters held in Amsterdam.
Di Toro won all but one of her pool matches and her semifinal before being defeated by the unstoppable Esther Vergeer of Netherlands in straight sets. The Australian showed glimpses of her best but could not halt Vergeer’s run of 401 successive wins and 13th consecutive Masters title.
Di Toro’s strong performance at the tournament caps off a successful season in 2010 after reaching the quarterfinal of the Australian Open, semifinal of the French Open and final of the US Open. She also claimed ITF Series tournament victories at both the Japan Open and Korea Open.
Along with fellow wheelchair tennis star and current world No.12 Ben Weekes, Di Toro has also been nominated for the ‘Most Outstanding athlete with a disability’ award at the inaugural Newcombe Medal, Australian Tennis Awards.
The nominations of Di Toro and Weekes for the award follow the recent induction of wheelchair tennis champion David Hall into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and his appointment as an ITF Wheelchair Ambassador to help promote the sport in Australia and worldwide.
