Banner Left

South Africans make a clean sweep

Lily Haley of SA won the girls u14 title. Photo: Helge Schütz

South African players made a clean sweep by winning all the singles titles at the ITF CAT Junior Africa Tennis Tournament in Windhoek yesterday. 

All eight finalists in the girls and boys u16 and u14 categories, were in fact, South Africans, who dominated the tournament which saw more than 100 SADC players in action over the past week. 

Hlumani Kekana of South Africa won the boys u16 singles title after beating compatriot Eathan Pieper in a tough three-setter.

The second seeded Kekana won the first set 6-1, but the top-seeded Pieper rallied back to win the second set 6-3 and set up a deciding third set, where Kekana held his nerve to win 10-5 and take the title. 

Roxy Bredenkamp of South Africa won the girls u16 singles final after thumping her compatriot Jenna Theron 6-0, 6-0. The top-seeded Bredenkamp was too strong for the fourth-seeded Theron with her powerful serves anjd groundstrokes proving too much for Theron. 

It was a great tournament for Bredenkamp who was way too strong for her opponents, conceding only two games in four matches. 

Nicholas Kruger of South Africa won the boys u14 singles title after beating compatriot Tristan Summers in a tough three-setter. Kruger won the first set 7-5, but Summers won the second 7-5 to level at 1-1. 

Kruger then took a decisive 3-0 lead in the tiebreak to go on to win 10-5 to take the match 2-1. 

Neither player was seeded, but that was more due to the fact that they did not feature much on the CAT tour where the players collect international ranking points. 

Kruger had a fine tournament, beating the second seeded Muchengeti Manzungu of Zimbabwe 6-0, 6-4 along the way.

In the girls u14 final, Lily Haley made a great comeback to beat her compatriot Lea Dube in three sets.

Dube won the first set 6-3, but Haley struck back with a vengeance to win the second set 6-0.

In the tie-breaker third set Haley edged ahead to take the set 10-7 to clinch a 2-1 victory. 

It was a great tournament for the pint-sized Haley who had earlier beaten the second-seeded Rutendo Tom of Zimbabwe 6-0, 6-1 as well as the fourth seeded Zimbabwean Claire Majeye 6-1, 6-0. 

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News