Johannesburg, South Africa – The historic ITF (International Tennis Federation) Arnold Classic Beach Tennis Challenge ended in Sandton, Johannesburg on Sunday.
Historic in the sense that it was the first ever international world ranking Beach Tennis event to be played in South Africa, and first ever Beach Tennis event to be staged as part of the Arnold Classic Sports Festival.
Tennis South Africa (TSA), who launched Beach Tennis in March this year, partnered with the Arnold Schwarzenegger initiative, the 2018 Arnold Classic Africa to phase the Beach Tennis event. A Beach Tennis court comprising of 90 tons of sand was constructed on Alice Lane in Sandton, alongside the Sandton Convention Centre.
The four day event attracted a top field of local and international players.
The men’s tournament was won by Dutch team Dario Loconte and Pieter De Vries. Loconte and De Vries, seeded three, beat fourth seeded Brazilians, Guilherme Porto Carrero Coli and Ilias Sakkas, 6-2 0-6 6-2 for the title.
The Dutch team upset top seeds, Kirill Lyzhnikova of Russia and Adil Medina of Morocco 6-3 7-6(6) in the semi-finals and fell to the ground with delight after clinching match point. De Vries said that it was a real highlight of his career as the important win would take him and his partner into the top 100 of the world rankings, “It’s the first time a Dutch team have won a tournament of this stature, so we are extremely proud of the title. This week was a good week for us and we both played well and used the wind to our advantage. Beating the top seeds in the semis gave us added confidence for the final and despite a second set lapse we were able to overcome our opponents and take the title.”
The women’s tournament was won by Russian top seeds, Ekaterina Lyzhnikova and Liudmila Nikoyan, who beat second seeds, Caroline Renard and Vanessa Ridolfo 6-3 6-4 in the final.
The Russians broke serve in the opening game of the match but were broken back by the Frenchwomen in the very next game. However, in the fifth game, the Russians found the second break and held-on to win the set 6-3. In the second set, the Russians broke serve early to lead 2-0. The Russians broke serve again in the fourth game to lead 3-1. Trailing 1-4, the Frenchwomen made a remarkable comeback to level the set at 4-4. Still, the comeback was cut short by Lyzhnikova and Nikoyan who held serve and then broke impressively in the tenth game without dropping a point to win the set 6-4 giving them the championship.
Nikoyan, who is ranked 28 in the world and the highest world ranked player at the tournament said she was delighted with the win, “Any title win is a good feeling and I am honoured to have won the first international title on offer in South Africa. It was a tricky final to play as the wind was strong and the French team were very competitive but my partner and I kept our game plan and nerve, and pulled it through.”
“My partner, Ekaterina, came to South Africa for the first time as a tourist last year and when she saw the Arnold Classic Beach Tennis Challenge on the calendar she encouraged me to travel with her to Johannesburg to play in the event. And how pleased I am that we came, it was a fabulous event, the setting was unique and the court was in excellent condition.”
Nikoyan had full praise for TSA in their launch of Beach Tennis in the country, “Four years ago, I retired from playing the pro circuit in regular tennis and took up Beach Tennis and have never looked back. It’s a really fun sport and with South Africa’s great weather conditions I am sure that the sport will grow in leaps and bounds and South Africa will become a force in world Beach Tennis.”
The Russian (Nikoyan), during her stay, held development and coaching clinics in Gauteng and said that she was impressed with the co-ordination of the junior and senior players, and felt that with more practise and tournament play, the talent could be a force to reckon with.
“I will definitely be back. I have loved my stay in South Africa and I hope the tournament next year will be bigger and better, has more courts and a larger international field. I for sure will promote the tournament on the world circuit.” concluded Nikoyan.
During the tournament prize giving, a specially commissioned cake was presented to the winners celebrating 10 years of ITF Beach Tennis.
The South African swing of the Beach Tennis Circuit moves indoors to Pococks Indoor Beach Centre in Randburg, Johannesburg on Tuesday, 22 May for back-to-back ITF events, the TSA Pococks Beach Tennis Challenge, followed by the TSA Beach Tennis Challenge.
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