The tennis tournament season in the Lowveld is in full swing, with two tourneys occurring on back-to-back weekends in March.

This past weekend, the Lowveld Junior Closed Tournament #3 was played across five venues in Mbombela – Nelspruit Tennis Club, Curro Nelspruit, Panorama Tennis Club, Hoërskool Nelspruit and Nelspruit Primary School.

Starting with the young ones on Saturday, in the girls U8 category, Kukhanya Mbuyane finished first and Jane Bronkhorst second.

In the boys U8, Aadam Nomani won and Christopher Leeuwner was the runner-up.

Anke Broekman took the girls U9 title, followed in second place by Rochelle Gower.

In the girls U10 draw, Abia Pretorius finished first and Anke Kotze second, and in the boys U10 draw, Jude van den Berg beat Kilan Kotze 4-1 to take the title.

Anika van Immerzeel defeated Alia Leeuwner 6-4 to win the girls U11 section, and Ruben van Niekerk beat Ethan Esterhuizen 6-4 to win the boys U11 tournament.

The rest of the players in the tournament played in divisions according to their universal tennis rating, and in division D, Lia Alberts trounced Marlu van Wyk 4-3, 4-2.

In division C, Shayna Lea beat Yusuf Packery 6-2, 6-1, and Luan Siebrits defeated Thembalethu Mathebula 6-3, 6-2 to clinch the division B title.

Lastly but by no means the least, Etienne Swart trounced Lefa Moganedi 6-4, 6-2 to win division A.

“We are pleased to see the number of new players with each tournament, especially with the younger groups,” said Lowveld Juniors chairperson Japie Janson.

“We love the fact that the interest in tennis seems to be getting bigger and bigger among the younger kids. Getting them on to the courts and active is great to see.”

The MP Sonpark Shopping Centre Grand Prix will be played on Saturday. It is Mpumalanga’s largest and strongest Tennis South Africa tournament.

This year there are 198 entries in the U12 to open sections alone, which is the largest number in the past seven years.

The Rainbow Kidz event is for U10s, U9s and U8s and will be hosted on Monday and Tuesday.