Stellenbosch, South Africa – Nik Scholtz and Madrie le Roux are the only South Africans through to the semi-finals of the Digicall Futures 1 tennis tournament.
The tournament is the first of a series of three international Futures tournaments being staged in Stellenbosch.
Scholtz performance in Thursday’s quarterfinals can be compared to that of a diesel truck taking a while to warm up, but when he started going few things could stand in his way.
The 24-year-old from Boland second seed came from behind in the opening set to force his tricky Spanish opponent Pulgar-Garcia into a tiebreaker, which Scholtz lost (7-1) to go down a set. But Scholtz regrouped, settled the nerves and took the second and third sets 6-3 6-2 in a three hour battle to secure his spot in the last four.
Scholtz will now face third seed Lucas Miedler of Austria in Saturday’s semi-finals.
Top-seeded Austrian, Pascal Brunner side-lined seventh seed South African Keith-Patrick Crowley 6-4 6-4 and will now play eighth seed Italian Luca Pancaldi in the semi-finals.
Pancaldi eliminated 18-year-old South African rising star Lloyd Harris 4-6 6-3 6-2 in a battle that took two hours and 21 minutes.
In the women’s singles, South Africa’s Madrie Le Roux had a tough battle against Britain’s Gabriella Taylor. Le Roux however came out triumphant by winning 7-6 (3) 6-4. The sixth-seed kept her cool but will have to bring her game to a higher level if she has any hope of making Sunday’s final.
The biggest upset of the day was recorded by Namibia’s Lesedi Jacobs who shocked top women’s seed Naomi Totka 6-4 6-1. Totka of Hungary was clearly troubled by a shoulder injury, which Jacobs capitalised on.
Jacobs will now go up against Le Roux on Saturday for a place in Sunday’s final..
The second women’s semi-final will be an all-German affair with Amelie Intert seeded eight and Luisa Marie Huber seeded five doing battle..