Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa: Besides titleholders Lizelle Muller and Dewald van Niekerk, several former champions will be in the field vying for glory when the Growthpoint SA Nationals squash championships take place in Cape Town from Thursday to Sunday (Sept 8-11).
This comes after the regional qualifiers were completed at eight venues around the country at the weekend to decide the line-up for South Africa’s premier individual tournament on the all-glass court at the V & A Waterfront.
Siblings Muller and Van Niekerk won their maiden titles in last year’s Growthpoint Nationals at the same venue and will be among the early favourites for the top spots.
They came through the Eastern Province regional event unscathed at the weekend, with Muller seeing off the challenge of Karen Schultz in straight games and Van Niekerk outgunning Gerard Mitchell by the same margin.
But there will be no easy passage at the Waterfront with such formidable opponents as JP Brits, Christo Potgieter and Alex Fuller also qualifying at the weekend.
Fuller, the world No 31 who campaigns on the international circuit, took the title in 2020, but did not play last year, while Brits, the 2019 champion, is also back after missing the event a year ago.
Potgieter, recently crowned over-35 champion in the World Masters in Poland, was the national champion in 2020 and runner-up to Van Niekerk a year ago.
Former professional Rodney Durbach also earned a spot in the Growthpoint Nationals, defeating Western Province colleague Mighael Lombard in three games in the Cape Town qualifier.
In one of the closest contests, Helena Coetzee came through the Northerns women’s leg only after subduing a spirited challenge from Kim McDonald.
They ended their round-robin format as the top two players, but Coetzee won the crucial encounter in five games – 11-6 4-11 11-6 10-12 11-3.
Other good contests came in Potchefstroom, where Alexa Pienaar needed four games to defeat young Elske Garbers, and in Welkom, where Shelomi Truter edged Danell Douglas for the top spot.
Cheyna Wood was one of the qualifiers but is unfortunately not available for Cape Town and her place has been taken by lucky loser Siyoli Waters.
The qualifiers are:
Women: Helena Coetzee, Alex Fuller, Lizelle Muller, Alexa Pienaar, Teagan Roux, Shelomi Truter, Hayley Ward, Siyoli Waters
Men: Matthew Boote, JP Brits, Rodney Durbach, Thoboki Mohohlo, Ruan Olivier, Christo Potgieter, Dewald van Niekerk, Tristen Worth
The results of the regional qualifying finals were:
Joburg Squash, Men: Christo Potgieter bt Sipho Ncube 3-0 (11-7 11-8 11-4); women: Teagan Roux bt Mariske Wiese 3-0 (11-6 11-4 11-5)
EP, Men: Dewald van Niekerk bt Gerard Mitchell 3-0 (11-3 11-7 11-4); women (round-robin): 1 Lizelle Muller, 2 Karen Schultz – Muller bt Schultz 3-0 (11-5 11-5 11-2)
WP, Men: Rodney Durbach bt Mighael Lombard 3-0 (11-8 11-7 11-9); women: Alex Fuller bt Siyoli Waters 3-0 (11-6 11-3 11-9)
Northwest, Men: Tristen Worth bt Reuel Videler 3-1 (11-9 10-12 11-7 11-2); women: Alexa Pienaar bt Elske Garbers 3-1 (11-9 12-10 5-11 11-5)
Northerns, Men: JP Brits bt Jonty Matthys 3-0 (11-5 11-3 11-7); women (round-robin): 1 Helena Coetzee, 2 Kim McDonald – Coetzee bt McDonald 3-2 (11-6 4-11 11-6 10-12 11-3)
KZN, Men: Matthew Boote bt Luke Bakke 3-0 (11-6 11-5 11-4)
Northern Free State, Men: Ruan Olivier bt Tremayne McDonald 3-0 (11-4 11-7 11-2); women (round-robin) 1 Shelomi Truter 2 Danell Douglas – Truter bt Douglas 3-1 (8-11 11-4 11-5 11-8)
Midlands, Men round-robin): 1 Thoboki Mohohlo, 2 Justin Gouweloos, 3 Daryn Pieters; women (round-robin): 1 Hayley Ward, 2 Nadia Dippenaar – Ward bt Dippenaar 3-0 (11-3 11-3 11-4)
Ends
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Caption
Regional qualifiers EP hub 2022 Karren Schultz Gerard Mitchell Dewald v Niekerk Lizelle Muller: Dewald van Niekerk, third from the left, and Lizelle Muller, right, took the honours at the weekend in the Eastern Province regional qualifying tournament for the Growthpoint SA Nationals squash championships, which are being played in at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town from Thursday to Sunday. With them are runners-up Karen Schultz, left, and Gerard Mitchell, second from the left.
Picture credit: SQUASH SOUTH AFRICA
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