Alexander Donski of Bulgaria and Merel Hoedt of the Netherlands won the respective men’s singles and women’s singles titles of the Tennis SA Tuks International after winning their final clashes at TuksTennis Courts in Pretoria on Sunday.

The men’s final was an epic clash, which lasted longer than three hours. During this tight and tense battle Bulgarian Davis Cup player Alexander Donski and Arthur Cazaux of France traded the lead until a third-set tiebreaker was required to settle their memorable final.

In the end, it was the fourth-seeded Donski who emerged victorious, coming back to edge Cazaux 7-6; 6-7; 7-6 to clinch the men’s singles title.

The Bulgarian later built on this success when he and his doubles partner, Raheel Manji of Canada, also won the doubles title.  They defeated David Pichler of Austria and Mehluli Sibanda of Zimbabwe quite easily with a final result of 6-2; 7-5.

Meanwhile, in the women’s singles event, Dutch second seed Merel Hoedt secured her first win in South Africa with an easy victory over Austrian seventh-seeded Yvonne Neuwirth in the final.

Neuwirth was the player who edged out top seed Chanel Simmonds from South Africa in the semi-finals. Hoedt efficiently disposed of Neuwirth in two sets (6-2; 6-1) in a surprisingly quick clash which lasted for just 85 minutes.

South African supporters received a consolation prize when Simmons and her doubles partner Caroline Romeo of France won the women’s doubles title. They defeated Zeel Desai from India and her partner, the singles champion Merel Hoedt form the Nederlands.

Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:

Rekord East
Rekord North
Rekord Centurion
Rekord Moot

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram