Stellenbosch, South Africa – South African Davis Cup star, Nik Scholtz is on track to win his second Digicall Futures title in two weeks.
Scholtz secured his spot together with 18-year-old fellow South African Lloyd Harris in the semifinals of the Digicall Futures 2 international tennis tournament being played in Stellenbosch on Friday.
Second seeded Scholtz in the quarterfinals had to fight hard to beat Spaniard Javier Pulgar Garcia 6-4 7-6. The temperamental Spaniard was given a warning for his behavior on court and admitted after defeat that his temper brought him down. “I used the Garcia’s temper to my advantage on court today advantage, because it is one of the few weaknesses about Garcia” said Scholtz.
The fourth-seeded Harris started strongly in his match against the young Austrian Bernd Kossler winning the opening set 6-1. But Kossler came back strong in the second set to clinch it 5-7 but Harris dug deep and kept his composure in the final set finally winning it 7-5 and securing his spot in Saturday’s semifinal.
Harris’s semifinals match against top seed Brunner should be very interesting. Brunner has had an easy week, not dropping a set but the inform Harris should provide the biggest challenge to the tournament favourite on Saturday. Nik Scholtz will go up against the third seed Lucas Miedler also of Austria in his semifinal.
There is a chance that there will be an all-South African men’s finals on Sunday should both win their respective matches on Saturday.
Whilst Harris and Scholtz wave the South African flag high, Madrie le Roux encountered an immovable obstacle in her opponent. Gabriella Taylor, of Great Britain in the women’s singles on Friday. Taylor beat Le Roux 7-6 (3) 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
The women’s top-seed Naomi Totka of Hungary was shocked in the biggest upset of the day by last week’s finalist Luisa Marie Huber of Germany. Huber beat Totka 4-6 6-2 6-4.
The second big upset of the day was when Zimbabwe’s Valeria Bhunu sidelined fifth seed Jaeda Daniel of USA 6-3 3-6 6-3.
The other last women’s semifinalist is Germans sixth seed Katharina Hering who beat Chinas Yijia Shao 6-7 (4) 7-5 7-5. Hering will play unseeded Gabriella Taylor of Great Britain for a place in the final.