Australian Open 2012 live stream

Despite emphatically beating countrywoman Aniek Van Koot 6-0, 6-0 in the Australian Open 2012 women’s wheelchair singles final, a humble Esther Vergeer is adamant her streak of 444 straight wins will be broken soon.

The record-setting top seed was ruthless in her dismissal of her fellow Dutchwoman and now has her sights set on Paralympic gold in London.

Later, Vergeer’s training partner Maikel Scheffers made it a double Dutch success with victory in the men’s wheelchair singles final, fighting back from a set down for the third time in as many matches to beat Frenchman Nicolas Peifer 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-0.

“I’ve already been telling myself I can lose any minute now because I know that some girls are a better player than me, maybe have better tennis skills than me, maybe have a better disability than me, maybe can put more pressure on the ball, but maybe don’t have the mental toughness or the experience,” Vergeer said of her winning streak.

“I’ve been telling myself I can lose any day now, it’s gonna happen.”

Yesterday’s title marked Vergeer’s fifth Australian Open crown. At 30 years of age, it would be easy for her to call it quits if the motivation started to drop, having already achieved everything possible in the sport.

“[I] work with a team around me where every time they see me they have something they want to improve. I can still improve in so many ways,” Vergeer said.

“At the same time this is just a great, awesome life that I’m living. It’s unbelievable that I’m able to play Grand Slams. It’s amazing that I can travel the world. Even if you have a disability, there’s so much that you can still do. By tennis, or by playing sport, it’s possible for me to spread that word.

Setting new goals for Grand Slam events she had long dominated was increasingly difficult for Vergeer, so when talk turned to the Paralympics, her excitement was clear.

“Part of getting motivation for tennis is setting new goals. I’ve won the Grand Slams. Setting goals for each tournament sometimes isn’t big enough so I’ve set my goal to win the gold medal in London,” she said.

“Four gold medals in one sport would be like a major achievement for me so, you know, that’s my main goal.”

For Scheffers, the title run was not so one-sided. He fought back from a set down in each of his matches at this year’s Australian Open and twice his French opponent served for the match in the second set of the final.

“I knew I can fight and a lot of matches that I had to fight a lot and I didn’t play well,” Scheffers said.

“It was an exciting tournament and I’ve lost three times in the first set and I came back every time and yeah, I won it.

“It’s the first time that I’m No. 1 and first seed in a Grand Slam, so it’s all experience and I’ll take this in my backpack and zip it.”