Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa: Savannah Ingledew and Shelomi Truter continued to impress in the Growthpoint South African Squash National Championships as they rode a wave of success into the women’s final at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Friday.
After impressive wins on Thursday when they eliminated top seeds Hayley Ward and Alexa Pienaar respectively, the pair again defeated higher ranked opponents to set up what will be a fascinating showdown at the iconic venue on Saturday afternoon.
The 18-year-old Ingledew, the country’s top junior and the first teenager to make the final since Natalie Grainger 30 years ago, showed how her game had improved after moving from Maritzburg to her current base in Surrey, England, by putting out the experienced former champion Milnay Louw, who is based in Cape Town.
A formidable opponent with an array of powerful shots, the 34-year-old Louw, seeded four, put up strong resistance, but eighth seed Ingledew’s ability to stay in the rally and an excellent short game which punished anything loose saw her control much of the match.
Louw looked like she would be dangerous after winning the second game, but the teenager was able to regroup and kept her composure under immense pressure to demonstrate the new levels to which her game has risen.
She said “it is amazing” to be in the final but knew that Truter, who put out third seed Teagan Roux of Johannesburg, would be a tough opponent.
“She is playing really well, and I know it’s going to be a real challenge, but I am just going to go out there and do my best,” Ingledew said.
Truter, from Potchefstroom, also won in four games and owed her victory to her fighting skills in the third game when, with the match poised at 1-1, Roux held a game point at 10-9.
But the seventh seed, who attacked the ball and matched her skill with some accurate and hard drives, withstood that to level at 10-10 and then saw a service return error from Roux and a winning boast give her a crucial 2-1 lead.
It was still tight in the fourth game as Roux fought with every bit of determination and skill she had, but Truter was able to pull of some winning shots which gave her the crucial edge to take the game 11-8 and the match.
“To get to the final is almost a surreal feeling,” said the 22-year-old Truter, whose future in the game was in doubt with an injury earlier this year. “It’s amazing to get this far after at one stage thinking I may not play at all. “Teagan put me under a lot of pressure, but I just tried to focus on my strategy of playing my game and committing myself to the shots I wanted to play.”
In a repeat of the 2022 men’s final, top seed Dewald van Niekerk will meet No 2 Christo Potgieter in an all-Johannesburg showdown.
However, while Potgieter was sublime in disposing of third seed Pretorian Ruan Olivier, the defending champion was forced to five games by another Pretoria player, No 4 Damian Groenewald.
It was one of the hardest games Van Niekerk, who started his squash career in Gqeberha, has had against local opponents and he was forced to pull out all the stops.
When the crunch came, however, he showed his class as a courageous Groenewald put a few shots into the tin to concede a lead in the fifth which finally became too much to reel in.
While Van Niekerk remains the favourite, Potgieter will not back off from the challenge in a week where he has showed outstanding form.
Friday’s second round results were:
Women
Semifinals: 7-Shelomi Truter (South African Country Districts) bt 3-Teagan Roux (Joburg Squash) 3-1 (10-12 11-6 12-10 11-8), 8-Savannah Ingledew (KZN Midlands) bt 4-Milnay Louw (Northerns) 3-1 (11-8 7-11 11-7 11-5)
Positions 5-8: Hayley Ward (Eastern Province) bt Keschia Scorgie (SA Country Districts) 3-0 (11-4 11-2 11-5). Alexa Pienaar (SA Country Districts) has withdrawn due to illness.
Men
Semifinals: 1-Dewald van Niekerk (SA Country Districts) bt 4-Damian Groenewald (Northerns) 3-2 (16-14 9-11 11-5 8-11 11-5), 2-Christo Potgieter (Joburg Squash) bt 3-Ruan Olivier (Northerns) 3-0 (11-5 11-6 11-6),
Positions 5-8: Jonty Matthys (SA Country Districts) bt Rudi van Niekerk (SA Country Districts) 3-0 (11-7 14-12 11-7), Lawrence Kuhn (Free State) bt Justin Gouweloos (KwaZulu-Natal) 3-1 11-8 12-14 11-8 11-5), Rudi van Niekerk (SA Country Districts) bt Lawrence Kuhn (Free State) 3-0 (11-4 11-4 11-9)
Ends
FREE TO USE PICTURES:
Captions:
Savannah Ingledew2.jpg- Savannah Ingledew (KZN Midlands) seeded eighth continued her dream run at the Growthpoint SA Squash Nationals being played at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Friday. Ingledew reached the final beating fourth seeded Milnay Louw (Northerns) 3-1 . On Saturday, Ingledew will play seventh seeded Shelomi Truter (SACD) in the final.
Shelomi Truter- Seventh seed Shelomi Truter (SACD) upset Teagan Roux (Joburg Squash) the third seed in the semifinals of the Growthpoint SA Squash Nationals at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Friday. Truter won 3-1. On Saturday, Truter will play eighth seeded Savannah Ingledew (KZN Midlands) in the final.
Dewald- Top seeded Dewald van Niekerk (SACD) reached the final of the Growthpoint SA Squash Nationals at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Friday when he beat fourth seed, Damian Groenewald (SACD) 3-2. The defending champion will now play second seed Christo Potgieter (Joburg Squash) on Saturday for the title.
Christo Potgieter- Christo Potgieter (Joburg Squash) seeded two reached his third consecutive Growthpoint SA Squash Nationals at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Friday when he beat third seeded Ruan Olivier (Northerns) 3-0 in the semifinal. Potgieter will play defending champion and top seed Dewald van Niekerk (SACD) in the final on Saturday.
Picture credits: Petri Oeschger
For free TV NEWS inserts in English, Afrikaans, and Vernacular to please contact David van der Sandt at david@tvsportsnews.co.za
For RADIO clips please contact Ursula Vlismas at ursula@vlismasmedia.co.za
Media online information HUB: https://rb.gy/mygmh
Facebook LIVE STREAM: https://www.youtube.com/@squashsouthafrica1622/videos
YouTube LIVE STREAM: https://rb.gy/14j6r
Media Contact
BLD Communications
Bruce Davidson;(+27) 083 212 2401, bruce@thebldgroup.com