Namibians win junior tennis doubles title

NAMIBIA’s Carita Moolman and Liniques Theron won the Girls Doubles title at the ITF South and Central Junior Circuit Championships in Windhoek on Friday after beating the second seeded Pauline Chawafambira of Zimbabwe and Emmanuelle de Beer of Mauritius 6-3, 7-6 in the final.

The Namibian pair displayed good combinations at the net and steady groundstrokes to comfortably win the first set 6-3.The second seeded pair put up a stronger performance in the second set, taking it to a tiebreak, but the Namibian’s nerve held as they won the tiebreak 7-4 to take the set 7-6.It was the 17-year-old Moolman and 16-year-old Theron’s first title on the ITF Junior African circuit and their victory should improve their ITF Junior ranking points considerably, as neither player is ranked in the top 1 000 juniors in the world.The result capped a great week for the Namibian pair who were unseeded for the tournament, but beat the number one and number four seeds along the way to the final. In the first round they beat the number four seeds from South Africa, Ilze Hattingh and Chloe Heerden 1-6, 7-6, 10-6 after a tiebreak third set, and in the semifinals they beat the top seeded Valeria Bhunu of Zimbabwe and Theresa van Zyl of South Africa 6-3, 6-3.In the Boys singles, Namibia’s 16-year-old Tuki Jacobs reached the semifinals where he was beaten 6-1, 6-1 by the top seeded Warren Kuhn of South Africa. The fourth seeded Jacobs displayed a strong serve, but he was too inconsistent and could not match the steady Kuhn in their baseline rallies.Despite the loss, it was Jacobs’ best performance on the ITF Junior African circuit to date and is bound to improve his junior ranking. He is currently ranked 506, but could now move closer to the top 300.Kuhn will play compatriot Matthew Rossouw in the Boys final on Saturday morning, after the second seeded Rossouw beat the third seeded Adriaan du Toit of South Africa 6-0, 6-2 in the other semifinal.The Girls final was won by the top seeded Valeria Bhunu of Zimbabwe who beat her second seeded compatriot Pauline Chawafambira 6-0, 6-4 in the final.- namibiasport.com.na