Among the Lowveld’s top tennis players, 18 were selected to represent Mpumalanga at the 2019 TSA Schools Tournament.

The day started with 36 players across three age groups, who had vied for a coveted spot at the weekend’s meet.

The players battled it out to be among the top six boys and girls in each age group.

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The local youngsters have until March 15 to prepare for the three-day tournaments. The u/13s will play in Bloemfontein, whereas Pretoria will host the u/15 and u/19 players.

The Mpumalanga Tennis Trials started on Friday morning with the u/13s playing at Panorama Tennis Club. Second rounds in the girls’ section saw Lowveld hopefuls Kristen Lombard and Joslin Boshoff square off, with Kristen narrowly winning in three sets.

Gabriella Koekemoer also played Emma Snyman in a local affair, with Gabriella coming out on top. She would prove too strong on the weekend, ending first on the u/13 team with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 win in the finals over Highveld’s Jenna van Vuuren. Danielle Lombard also made the team, beating Highveld’s Daniella Lindeque 12-10 in the third set tiebreaker to clinch third place.

On the boys’ side in the u/13 draw, Lowveld players Yusuf Asvat and Christian Smith faced each other throughout the weekend.

Asvat prevailed, but they both made the team, with Yusuf at number four and Christian at number six.
Among the u/15s, Lowveld contenders included last year’s TSA Schools representative, Arili Boshoff, in the girls’ draw. On Saturday with the top positions still on the line, the final matches were three-set affairs. In the boys draw, JP Visagie lost to West Mpumalanga’s Dylan Esterhuizen 10-4 in the third, and Arili beat Highveld’s Chizelle Rossouw 10-0 in the third set.

The other successful boys were Michiel Eksteen (number four), Dian Venter (number five) and Khush Mehta (number 6). Lize Oosthuizen finished third on the girls’ side, with Natasha Wales in fourth and Nolizwe Mlangeni in fifth place.

Nelspruit Tennis Club at Van Riebeeck Park hosted the u/19 tournament this weekend and there were many closely contested matches. The first one was on Friday morning, in the very first round; resident hopeful Ruben Grundlingh bested his long-time rival, West Mpumalanga’s Christo Janeke, 11-9 in the third set.
Japie Lubbe finished second after a loss to West Mpumalanga’s Henco du Plooy on Saturday morning, while Muhammed Arabi and Divyesh Daya took fifth and sixth positions respectively.

In the girls draw Lowvelder Lize van Biljon and Michelle Boshoff played their semi-final on Friday afternoon, with Lize prevailing with a 7-6, 6-0 win. She could, however, not carry that momentum all the way through, just missing this year’s number-one spot with a 7-6, 6-7, 7-10 loss to West Mpumalanga’s Lydia Wilsenach in Saturday’s final.

Lize and Michelle both made the team, finishing in second and third place respectively. In seven weeks’ time the Mpumalanga teams will travel to Bloemfontein and Pretoria and try to better their performances from 2018. Last year, the u/13s finished 13th, u/15s 14th, and the u/19 team finished seventh.

Mpumalanga Junior Tennis chairman Eckhardt van der Linde said, “I am impressed with how close many of the matches were over the weekend. It shows that junior tennis in Mpumalanga is getting more and more competitive. I look forward to all three teams representing Mpumalanga in March,” he said.