South African rising star and former Pretoria schoolgirl, Zoe Kruger, booked a place in the second round of the Ilana Kloss International, an ITF $25,000 World Tour event with a hard-fought three-sets victory over Canada’s Carol Zhao on Tuesday at the North-West University Potchefstroom Campus.

The 18-year-old daughter of former Bulls and Springbok loose forward, the late Ruben Kruger, who was awarded a wildcard into the tournament, prevailed 4-6; 6-4; 6-4 in two hours and 46 minutes to chalk up the win over Zhao in their first meeting.

After out-duelling the big hitter Zhao, Kruger will have another power player awaiting her in the second round – third seed and world number 200 on the ITF World rankings Bibiane Schoofs from the Netherlands.

Schoofs edged out Bloemfontein teen Delien Kleinhans in three sets 6-0; 3-6; 7-5.

“I think it was a really tough match, obviously come back after a big injury. It is my first tournament in almost a year and half, so it is tough coming back to competition again but I think I really just fought until the end,” commented Zoe Kruger following her match.

South Africa’s leading women’s player Chanel Simmonds was denied a second-round spot by Spanish fifth seed Eva Alvarez. Alvarez defeated the 28-year-old South African 7-6(5) 6-4 to advance to the second round.

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