Slam tourney a first for the Lowveld

The first annual Tennis South Africa (TSA) VDL Tennis Lowveld Slam tournament was held at Van Riebeeck Park and Matumi this past weekend. The event is one of only two TSA tournaments held in Mbombela each year and featured the top players from Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Mozambique.

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The tournament served as a springboard for players to earn ranking points and then enter larger and more competitive tournaments as their rankings improve. The tournament also helped to raise the profile of tennis in the Lowveld and Mpumalanga and encouraged more juniors to play more often.

Mire Grobler finished third in the girls’ u/12 singles. JP Snyman won the boys’ u/12 singles event, with John Robert de Clerck finishing third, Ruan Oosthuizen finishing fourth, Luan Siebrits sixth, Gideon Coetzer seventh and Etienne Swart finishing ninth. De Clerck and Snyman partnered to win the boys’ u/12 doubles event. Natasha Wales won the girls’ u/14 singles with Gabriella Koekemoer finishing second.

The girls played a long and intense match with Wales eventually winning in a close third set tiebreak. Danielle Lombard finished fourth in the event with sister Kristen finishing fifth. Wales and Koekemoer partnered to win the girls’ u/14 doubles event.

In the boys’ u/14 singles Deniel Terblanche finished fourth, Christian Smith sixth, Schalk Grobbelaar seventh, Dian Venter eighth, Elro Grobler ninth, Tiaan Jurgens 10th and Dylan Ormiston 11th. Jovan Lubbe finished second in the boys’ u/16 singles event after a highly entertaining finals match against Gauteng North’s Thio Tshivhase, while JP Visagie finished fourth, Divyesh Daya sixth, Zuan Taljaard eighth, Michiel Eksteen ninth, Ruan Pretorius 10th and Khush Mehta 11th.

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In the women’s singles event, Jeanetha Boshoff beat daughter, and SA’s top-30 u/14 player, Arili in a close three-set final match while Zia Hoppe finished third, Beulah Alberts fourth and Kiara Wales fifth. In the men’s singles event, Schalk Schutte was the runner-up after a hard fought final match against Maputo’s Jonas Alberto Junior. Du Toit Wessels finished third in the event, Japie Lubbe fourth, Teddy Ndlazi fifth, Muhammed Arabi sixth, David Moganedi seventh and Wiehann Hodd eighth.

“The tournament was a great success and it was pleasing to see so many Lowveld juniors compete against some of the best players in the country. This exposes them to a high level of competition and helps them to improve,” said Eckhardt van der Linde of VDL Tennis.

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“For some players this was their first time ever competing in a TSA tournament and earning ranking points and it was good to see how they have progressed in their tennis development so far. I would encourage all players to compete in as many tournaments as possible to gain valuable match practise in preparation for the Nelspruit Grand Prix in August.

“The tournament enjoyed tremendous support from sponsors – Auto Baltic Nelspruit, i’langa Mall and the Kishugu Lowveld ABSA Airshow for which we are truly grateful.”