• Maiden international win for rising tennis ace Sipho Montsi
• Giant killer, Minette Van Vreden takes top honours
Johannesburg, South Africa:
It was a fabulous Saturday for 16 year old Sipho Montsi of South Africa as he captured his maiden international junior tennis title in Johannesburg.
Fourth seeded Montsi of Pretoria beat fellow South African Bertus Kruger of Johannesburg 7-5 2-6 6-1 in the final. It took Montsi two hours, two minutes to win the title over third seeded Kruger who gave credit to Montsi following his loss but admitted he didn’t play his best tennis in the final. “Well done to Sipho for the win today but honestly I was real disappointed that I didn’t bring my’ “A game” into the final ” said Kruger.
Montsi broke the big Kruger left handed serve early in the opening set to lead 3-1. But Kruger, a past Junior Davis Cup player, broke back in the eighth game to level at 4-4. The set went with serve until the eleventh game when Montsi broke serve again to lead 6-5 and then held his own serve to take the opening set 7-5.
In the second set, Kruger found his rhythm and broke a defensive Montsi twice to win the set 6-2 and take the final into a deciding set.
But Montsi was not going to give up the fight. Despite Montsi being significantly shorter than his tall opponent, he showed heart and fight and dominated the final set, breaking serve three times winning the set 6-1.
“I am so happy to win my first international title” said a delighted Montsi following victory. “I went into the match confident, having had some good wins this week and I told myself not to doubt myself. But when I lost that second set I was disappointed as it was the first set I lost all tournament, but told myself to believe in myself and the game plan that won me the first set and I went back to my aggressive, positive game which paid off. “
In the all South African girls singles final, 17 year old Minette Van Vreden of The Strand In Cape Town caused a major upset when she beat top seed Maxine Bateman 6-1 6-2.
Bateman of Umhlali in Kwa-Zulu Natal was never in the match, with her erratic forehand and high unforced error percentage letting her down. Bateman has also been struggling with knee problems and it was evident her heavily strapped knees were not in good shape during the final. But all credit to Van Vreden who played a solid impressive game throughout the week upsetting the second and third seed en route to the final.