First TSA tourney off to great start
An early start for Tennis South Africa (TSA) as the first tournament was held in Mbombela from January 7 to 10.
This particular event, the MP Grand Prix, is also the strongest in terms of ranking points for the year, thus attracting many players from outside Mpumalanga.
There was a slight rain delay on the first day of the tournament, but for the remainder of the weekend, the weather played along nicely.
In the girls u/12 category, Noemi Valdes (Gauteng North) defeated Jesse de Villiers (Gauteng North) 6-3, 6-0 in the finals of the singles, and Noemi/Jesse narrowly snuck past Lika Claassens and Lea Dube of KwaZulu-Natal, 4-6, 6-0 and 10-7 in the doubles final. The highest placing Lowvelders were Milan van Heerden (sixth) and Simoné Swart (seventh).
On the boys’ side, the final was another Gauteng North affair, with Kean de Jager beating Beyers Pretorius 6-0, 6-0. Kean then teamed up with the Lowveld’s Dandré Louw to win the doubles final against Louis Holtzhausen and Kyle Pienaar from Gauteng Central, 6-7, 7-5, 10-7. The best Lowvelders in that division were Evan Jacobs (ninth) and Dandré Louw (10th).
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The second-seeded Zoë Venter of Limpopo won the girls’ under 14 singles final, beating Gauteng Central’s Kayleigh Stayt 6-4, 6-3 in the final round. Lowvelder Joslin Boshoff finished third, and then teamed up with Zoë to win the doubles final against Ava Contomathios and Gabriella Steytler from Gauteng Central, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.
In the boys’ under 14 section, the Lowveld’s very own JP Snyman emerged victorious after a two-hour final, defeating Gauteng North’s Niel Erasmus 7-6, 6-0, 6-3. JP and Niel then teamed up to take the doubles title, beating Franco Colin and Jayden Myers 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Pascal Middel and Mias Bezuidenhout, also from the Lowveld, finished eigth and ninth respectively.
Onto the boys’ u/16 draw, and another Lowvelder was victorious. Heinrich Rootman defeated Botswana’s Seabo Saleshando 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the final. Fellow Lowvelder Christian Smith finished third in the singles, and Christian and Heinrich won the doubles final against Rico du Plessis and Christiaan van Rooyen, 6-3, 6-7, 10-5.
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The women’s singles final was an all-Lowveld family affair. Arili Boshoff defeated Jeanetha Boshoff 6-3, 6-2 in the final, and the mother-daughter duo then won the doubles final 6-0, 6-1 against Hannah Crafford and Lizzy Knoesen.
Lastly, the men’s final was a very close contest between Mpumalanga’s Henco du Plooy and Gauteng Central’s Aleksandar Simovski. Simovski prevailed with a scoreline of 7-6, 6-3. Du Plooy and Simovski then defeated Luke Clifton and Neal Redfern in the doubles final, 7-5, 6-1.
The events mentioned were played at Panorama Tennis Club and Nelspruit Tennis Club, while the Rainbow Kidz Matchplay Mania tournament for the youngsters was held at Curro Nelspruit. In the u/8 red ball category, eight boys and girls enjoyed an exciting day of tennis, and in the u/10 category, eight players also competed, with Andrew Cerff from Gauteng Central defeating the Lowveld’s Yusuf Packery in the final, 4-3, 4-2.
The next TSA tournament in the Lowveld is the Mbombela Open that will be held in Mbombela in May.
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