Top junior tennis players in action in Windhoek

SOME of the top junior tennis players from Southern Africa and abroad are currently competing in the International Tennis Federation’s South and Central African Junior Under-18 competition which started in Windhoek on Monday.

The tournament forms part of the ITF African series and with international rankings points up for grabs, a strong field has entered with players from as far afield as India, Australia, Germany and Great Britain among the contestants. In yesterday’s matches the top-seeded players all easily won their matches to qualify for the second round. In the U/18 boys’ singles competition, the top-seeded Okkie Kellerman of South Africa beat Namibia’s Bjorn van den Berg 6-0, 6-1, while the second-seeded Francois Kellerman, also from South Africa, beat Upamannyu Sinha of India 6-2, 6-0.The third-seeded Phillip de Bruyn from South Africa beat Tonderai Tapfuma of Zimbabwe 6-1, 6-0, while the fourth-seeded Joshua Luck of South Africa beat Alwyn Mushonga of Zimbabwe 6-1, 6-3. Namibia’s players have all been eliminated in the boys’ singles competition. Ruvan van Staden lost 6-1, 6-1 to Innocent Tidimane of Botswana, Andre Smit lost 7-5, 6-2 to Thomas Greeff of South Africa, Veja Hinda lost 6-0, 6-0 to Rhys Milne of South Africa, and Pieter Theron lost 6-2, 6-3 to Hubert Badenhorst of South Africa. Namibia’s Sedi Jacobs, who is the top seed in the girls’ singles competition, received a bye in the first round and will start her campaign this morning when she takes on Danielle du Plooy of South Africa. Another Namibian player, Liniques Theron, is the second seed in the girls’ singles category and will get her campaign underway this morning with a match against Vivian Klein of Germany. In other matches at the Central courts this morning, the U/18 boys’ top seed, Okkie Kellerman, takes on compatriot Joshua Warren, while the fourth-seeded Luck from South Africa takes on compatriot JD Malan.

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