LOUIS Botha and Kerstin Gressmann were the men and women’s singles winners at the Namibia Tennis Association’s second tournament of the year over the weekend.
In the men’s final, the top-seeded Botha received stiff opposition from Johan de Witt, before he won the match in three sets 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 to take the title.The quality of the match was of a high standard and the intensity was just as high causing the players to show their emotions at stages and interact with the crowd.The shot making from both players was world class but in the end it was the consistency of Botha that saw him emerge as the winner.Botha won a second title when he teamed up with Zambian Mwiza Ghondwe to beat Johan de Witt and Deon van Dyk in a titanic three-setter, 7-5, 2-6, 13-11.The women’s final was a battle between youth and experience as the 18-year-old Gressmann came up against the veteran Amanda van Dyk, who has remained amongst Namibia’s top players since Independence.Gressmann easily reached the final as she won all her matches convincingly in straight sets, but in the final she came up against Van Dyk who had won the first tournament of the year.The match was also one of contrasting styles with Van Dyk countering Gressman’s top spin groundstrokes with her sharp sliced forehands and backhands. In the first set Van Dyk kept the balls deep in the court while Gressmann was a little late on the sliced balls, but she kept a cool head and managed to take the first set 6-4.In the second set, Van Dyk started making unforced errors due to the increased pace of the game, and Gressman easily won the set 6-0 to win the title. Gressmann then teamed up with Juliane Schuckmann to win the women’s doubles title, beating Amanda van Dyk and Melissa Gillies 6-4, 6-4 in the final.In the mixed doubles final Deon van Dyk and Kerstin Gressmann teamed up to beat Grant Rau and Melissa Gillies 6-3, 6-2.The next tournament on the NTA calendar will take place in Windhoek on April 20, 2012. – namibiasport.com
