The ITF World Junior Tennis Tour made its way to the North-West University and the Riaan Venter Tennis Academy (RVTA) from 26 February to 11 March, with future tennis stars playing stunning tennis.
These J4 Potch 1 and 2 tournaments at the fine NWU/RVTA facilities featured numerous talented local players and some top international players.
Two local girls who made Potchefstroom proud were Mari-Louise van Zyl and Stefanie Pretorius, who took the girls’ doubles title at the J4 1 event. The second-seeded Van Zyl and Pretorius, who train at RVTA, used their local knowledge to their advantage with a 6–3, 2–6 (10–5) victory against the first-seeded Leigh van Zyl and Heike Janse van Vuuren.
This was a great confidence boost for Van Zyl and Pretorius, after failing to reach the final in singles’ action. Van Zyl and Pretorius could not repeat their victory in the second tournament a week later, though. They lost their semi-final clash against Yenzo Dladla and Sophia Fuller by 2–6, 6–3 (10–8).
Earlier on, they clashed in the J4 (2) girls’ singles quarter-final, with the Gimmies’ Mari-Louise getting a 6–3, 7–5 victory against her doubles partner. Mari-Louise would eventually lose in the semi-final against Tayla Wilmot by 6–3, 6–2. In the J4 (2) tournament, Wian Roothman took a 6–1, 6–2 victory in the singles competition against Rohan Loubser.
The third-seeded Leigh van Zyl took the girls’ singles title with a 6–2, 6–1 win against Tayla Wilmot. Gerard Henning and Wian Roothman took the boys’ doubles title with a 6–4, 6–4 victory against Shane Tapera and Denzel Seetso.
