By Tom Degun

Houdet and KuniedaNovember 18 - Stephane Houdet of France and Shingo Kunieda of Japan clinched the Invacare Doubles Masters wheelchair tennis men's title together while Dutch pair Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot took the women's doubles title at the Frans Otten Stadium in Amsterdam.

In what is the International Tennis Federation's (ITF) year-end wheelchair tennis doubles Championship, fourth seeds Houdet and Kunieda produced a stunning display in the final as they stormed back from dropping the opening set to beat second seeds Gordon Reid of Britain and Ronald Vink of the Netherlands 6-7, 6-2, 6-1.

The dramatic first set in the men's final saw Reid and Vink edge an intense tiebreak before Houdet and Kunieda stormed back to take the second set 6-2 and forced a decider.

They maintained their momentum to build another 5-1 lead before Kunieda finally served out for the victory on his and Houdet's first match point after two hours and 25 minutes.

Victory brought Houdet his second Doubles Masters title and first with Kunieda while it marked a memorable a memorable two weeks for Kunieda after he won his first NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters singles title in Belgium earlier this month.

Meanwhile in the women's final, top seeds Griffioen and van Koot claimed victory at the event for the first time as a partnership after as they defeated third seeds Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany and Yui Kamiji of Japan 6-0, 6-3.

Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van KootDutch pair Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot took the women’s title at the Invacare Doubles Masters in Amsterdam

The Dutch duo dominated from the outset and after taking the first set to love, they quickly wrapped up the second 6-3 to take the win and delight the home crowd.

The win brought the curtain down on a highly successful 2012 for Griffioen and van Koot after the pair won Wimbledon and British Open together this year before taking the silver medal in the women's doubles at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Yesterday American top seeds Nick Taylor and David Wagner had won the quad doubles title for the sixth time since 2005 as they beat number two seeds Antonio Raffaele of Italy and Shraga Weinberg of Israel 6-1, 6-4.

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