LONDON — Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands captured her fourth straight Paralympics title in the wheelchair tennis women's singles with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over compatriot Aniek van Koot Friday, taking her remarkable nine-year winning streak to 470 matches. Vergeer, who has been No. 1 in the rankings since 1999, required just 59 minutes to wrap up the win at Eton Manor in the Olympic Park. She says “I know the day I will lose will come, but I don't know when.” Vergeer needs 86 more victories to surpass what is widely believed to be the longest run of consecutive wins in sport — 555 by Pakistani squash great Jahangir Khan between 1981-86. On Thursday, Britain's Jonnie Peacock sprinted to glory in the showpiece final, stripping “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius of another title with a lightning-quick 100m. The 19-year-old, who holds the world record of 10.85sec in the straight sprint, again proved he is the fastest amputee runner in the world by taking gold in a new Paralympic record of 10.90sec. Pistorius, 25, was just out of the medals in fourth, clocking 11.17sec behind compatriot, friend and roommate Arnu Fourie, who took bronze in 11.08sec and US sprinter Richard Browne, who won silver in 11.03sec. A stunned Peacock described his win as “amazing” while the South African star was magnanimous in defeat and said the Briton's performance was just the start of a stellar career. Organizers had billed the T44 race for single and double below-the-knee amputees as the race of the Games, predicting that all eight finalists could go under 11sec for the first time. Peacock, a single leg amputee trained by Dan Pfaff who coached Canada's Donovan Bailey to Olympic 100m glory in 1996, signalled his intent in Thursday's heats by equalling the Paralympic record of 11.08sec. Pistorius, the T44 100m, 200m and 400m champion in Beijing, had warned that he was not favorite for the straight sprint, as he was a one-lap specialist. After sensationally losing his T44 200m title to Brazil's Alan Oliveira on Sunday, Pistorius said he was at a disadvantage in terms of stride length as his rivals were “a lot taller”. Pistorius gained a measure of revenge over Oliveira Thursday, as he anchored South Africa to a world record-breaking victory in the T42-46 4x100m relay for single and double below-the-knee amputees and upper limb amputees. British wheelchair racer David Weir provided the warm-up for the sprint kings by retaining his T54 800m title after successfully defending his 1,500m crown and winning gold in the 5,000m. Weir's teammate Hannah Cockroft doubled up after winning the T34 100m to take the 200m, while France's Assia El Hannouni won the T12 200m title for blind and visually impaired runners for the third consecutive Games. Earlier in the day, Russia-born US swimmer Jessica Long won the S8 100m freestyle for third Games in a row, beating her own world record, for her fifth gold in the British capital. In five-a-side football, Brazil was on course to retain its unbeaten Paralympic record since the sport was introduced in 2004. It made the final again, where it will play France. In wheelchair basketball, Australia held off a dramatic late rally by the United States and dashed its dreams of a third straight Paralympic wheelchair basketball title, as it progressed to Friday's women's final. – Agencies
