Success for SA u.18 tennis team at Africa Championships in Pretoria
South Africa's under-18 tennis team showed in Pretoria last week that they are currently Africa's best when they won a major continental youth tournament on the tennis courts of the University of Pretoria.
Hosts South Africa capped a historic tournament by winning the u.18 African Junior Championships Nations trophy when the continental tournament ended at the TuksTennis at University of Pretoria on Sunday.
South Africa finished in top position with an overall 635 points in the nation rankings with Morocco in second place with 490 points and Egypt in third position.
The event was completed in two parts. It started last week Monday with the individual competition, followed by a teams’ competition, which concluded on Sunday.
The tournament has attracted sixteen nations, namely Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and hosts South Africa.
The result follows the country’s teen sensation and former local Pretoria star, Kholo Montsi, who gave the home fans plenty to cheer about on Friday when he claimed the boys singles title.
The 17-year-old Montsi eliminated his mate and Australian Open doubles partner Eliakim Coulibaly from Ivory Coast 6-4 6-1 to be crowned the African Junior Champion.
Montsi went on to clinch the boy’s doubles title with countryman Carl Roothman against compatriots Devin Badenhorst and Mikaeel Woodman. The top seeded pair defeated Badenhorst and Woodman 6-2 6-3 to claim the doubles title.
In the girls’ event, the country’s top ranked juniors Maretha Burger and Isabella Weatherhead were eliminated in the singles quarter-final round by Egyptian players Hania Abouelsaad and Yasmin Ezzat respectively.
Weatherhead and Delien Kleinhans reached the girls doubles semi-finals after going down to Moroccan top seeds Sara Akid and Yasmine Kabbaj.
“It’s really great hosting the u.18 African Junior Championships here at home for the first time in over nine years. It’s been a great week of high-level tennis here at TuksTennis and it was really amazing seeing one of our own Kholo Montsi winning the boys title and winning the nations trophy was a cream on top,” said Tennis South Africa (TSA) President Gavin Crookes after the week’s action.
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