South African rising star Isabella Kruger joined her sister, Zoë, in the second round of the Ilana Kloss international, an ITF $25,000 World Tour event at the North-West University in Potchefstroom on Wednesday.

Unlike Zoë, who was admitted to the tournament as a Wildcard entry, Isabella first had to participate in the qualifying phase to be able to play against the top players.

The 15-year-old qualifier booked her passage to the next stage of the tournament with an effortless 6-1; 6-1 win over compatriot and wildcard Suzanie Pretorius in a tension-free meeting on court two.

Kruger will next face Hungarian fourth seed and world number 207 Reka-Luca Jani in the second round.

“I am happy I managed to get through two qualifying matches earlier this week and now I got my first-round victory in the main draw. I am excited and look forward to rest of the week,” said Kruger.

The Kruger sisters, who were learners at Curro School in Hazeldean in the east of Pretoria before going to America two years ago for the sake of their tennis careers, are South Africa’s last hopefuls for glory in Potchefstroom. The country’s leading player, Chanel Simmonds, was knocked out of the singles event on Tuesday.

Isabelle’s sister, Zoe, booked her place in the second round of the ITF $25,000 World Tour event with a hard-fought three-sets victory over Canada’s Carol Zhao on Tuesday

On the men’s side, South African world-acclaimed doubles player Raven Klaasen and Ruan Roelofse booked their place in the next round of the Potch Open, an ATP Challenger 80 event.

Klaasen and Roelofse eased past wildcard entrants Vasilios Caripi and Vaughn Hunter 6-3 6-2 to set-up a second-round clash with Julien Cagnina of Belgium and Nicola Kuhn of Spain.

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