Arili, Lize claims top seeds’ scalp
Laerskool Nelspruit's Arili Boshoff and Lize Oosthuizen thrashed the number-one seeded pair to claim the u/12 girls' doubles title at the Tennis South Africa (TSA) Mpumalanga Grand Prix.
This past weekend Lowveld’s tennis courts were invaded by junior players from across the country.
For the first time in almost 10 years, Mpumalanga Grand Prix – a level five national tournament – returned to the Lowveld.
It has seen the likes of the US Open finalist, Kevin Anderson and former South African Davis Cup player, Izak van der Merwe.
Hoërskool Nelspruit’s Japie Lubbe reached the semi-finals of the boys u/16 draw, where he had the chance to win the first set against number-one seeded Devin Badenhorst, but narrowly lost 7-5, 6-3.
In the girls u/12 draw, Nellies’ number-one player, Arili started off strong, winning her first two matches against Natasha Wales (MP) 6-1, 6-0, and against Gauteng East’s Kyla Gobby 6-0, 6-0.
She continued her aggressive play against Gauteng East number-two seeded and South African number 17, Tayla Wilmot, using her penetrating cross-court forehands in an impressive 6-2, 6-3 win.
In Monday’s final she faced Free State’s Anke Heyns, currently the number three u/12 in the country.
Anke was too strong for Arili, and she won the match 6-1, 6-2.
Arili teamed up with Lize for the doubles that same day. They beat number-one seeds, Anke and Rozanne van der Schyff 6-2, 6-1.
Singles winners received a sponsored two-week trip (all expenses except flights paid) to the Abrie du Plooy Tennis Academy in New Orleans in the US, a rare opportunity to see how juniors in other parts of the world are practicing and playing.
In the u/10 girl’s doubles division, local players Joslin Boshoff and Gabriella Koekemoer took the win.
Lize placed third in the u/12 girls division after facing off with a number of strong competitors in Monday’s final matches.
