Van Schalkwyk, Yssel through to second round

CONNOR van Schalkwyk and Lisa Yssel are the only remaining Namibian players in the International Tennis Federation’s J4 tournament at the Central Tennis Courts in Windhoek following the first round of matches yesterday.

The second-seeded Van Schalkwyk beat Batsomi Marobea of Botswana 6-3, 6-3 on Monday to progress to the second round, where he will face Benjamin Scott of South Africa, who beat Yannick Maser of Germany 6-4, 6-1.

At last week’s J5 tournament Van Schalkwyk, who is ranked 292 amongst juniors in the world, reached the semifinals where he lost to the eventual runner-up, Anro Nel of South Africa (ranked 375), and will be hoping to go further this time around.

Van Schalkwyk currently lives in Sweden and had just returned to Namibia from a six-month winter and was still struggling with the altitude, so he should be better adapted by now.

Namibia’s other representatives in the boys singles category had, however, all been knocked out by yesterday.

On Monday, Daniel Jauss lost 6-1, 6-3 to the sixth seed, Alexander Eriksson of Sweden, while George Louw lost 6-3, 7-5 to Lyle Zaloumis of Zimbabwe.

Yesterday, Dian Calitz lost 6-1, 6-0 to the seventh seed, James Edley of South Africa, while Sarel Janse van Rensburg lost 6-0, 6-0 to Josh Manuel of Great Britain.

In other first round results, the top-seeded Mikaeel Woodman of South Africa beat Shane Tapera of Zimbabwe 6-2, 6-3; the third-seeded Anro Nel of South Africa beat Takura Mhwandagara of Zimbabwe 6-1, 6-1; the fourth-seeded Connor Kruger of South Africa, who won last week’s J5 tournament, beat Adrian Daniel of Israel 6-0, 6-3; the fifth-seeded Alexander Edley of South Africa beat Alfons Ridstrom of Sweden 6-1, 6-0; and Joseph Townes of South Africa beat the eighth-seeded Adrian Luddeckens of Sweden 6-2, 6-2.

In the girls singles competition, Yssel progressed to the second round after beating Lyndseigh Muller of South Africa 6-4, 6-2. Yssel will now meet Chandre Boshoff of South Africa, who beat the seventh-seeded Tadiwanashe Mauchi of Zimbabwe 6-3, 6-4.

Namibia’s other entrants, however, lost in the first round, with Raica Coelho losing 6-1, 6-1 to the eighth-seeded Carle Botha of South Africa, and Elze Stears losing 6-0, 6-0 to Marilouise van Zyl of South Africa.

In other first round matches on Monday, the top-seeded Leigh van Zyl of South Africa beat Lavinia Torselli of Italy 6-3, 6-4; and the fifth-seeded Cayline le Grange of South Africa beat Munashe Bera of Zimbabwe 6-2, 6-0.

In first round matches yesterday, the second-seeded Kelly Arends of South Africa, who won last week’s J5 tournament, beat Sara Pantelic of Belgium 6-4, 6-2; the third-seeded Suzanie Pretorius of South Africa beat Julie Tungamirai of Zimbabwe 6-0, 6-0; the fourth-seeded Layla Shoukry of Egypt beat Renee Dorval of Belgium 6-0, 6-1; Pavitra Parikh of India beat the sixth-seeded Naledi Manyube of South Africa 6-2, 6-2; Charne Mulder of South Africa beat Diana de Simone of Italy 6-0, 6-1; Tanyaradzwa Midzi of Zimbabwe beat Vaida Matuseviciute of Sweden 6-2, 6-4; and Jo-Leen Saw of Malaysia beat Mikayla Plitt of South Africa 6-2, 6-1.

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