THE culmination of six exciting weeks of round robin stages saw experienced division one players and up-and-coming division two players from the Amanzimtoti Tennis Club compete in a stirring bout of semi-finals matches on April 18.

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Perfect, cool weather and the enthusiastic support from the athletes’ family, friends and fellow club members contributed towards an amazing semi-finals stage.

Club treasurer and fierce division one competitor, Gary Killian, said that his match against reigning singles tournament winner, Hendrik Bester, was a riot.

“Hendrik was absolutely dominant despite my efforts to chase down balls that were whizzing around. He was in no mood to be generous and with booming serves and incredible angles, the lefty was just in another league, winning 6-0, 6-0,” said Killian, congratulating his competitor.

Division two saw upcoming star, Langa Buthelezi, at just 15, take on Grant Milosevich. Langa had not lost a single round robin game, but Milosevich claimed victory 6-3, 6-1.

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The second semi-final of division two saw Hennie Engelbrecht clash against Abdul Ismail, making for an entertaining match with long rallies between the players. Hennie won the war of attrition 6-4, 6-2.

“Match of the day, however, was the battle between Esmond Robertson and Mike Ngoma. Esmond was hitting like a professional in the first set, taking it 6-2, but Mike, our resident coach, is a tactical player and his style came to the fore in the second set when he wore Esmond down after many long rallies, which included well-placed lobs and angled drop shots. Mike took this set 6-3 and the match was decided on a 10-point tiebreaker. With Esmond expending his energy in the first explosive set, Mike had the upper hand, claiming the third set 7-6,” said Gary.

The finals will take place at 12:00 on April 25. Division two is between Hennie and Grant, while the grand finale is a rematch of last year’s final, Hendrik versus Mike.

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