Pretoria, South Africa; It was a successful African tennis safari for the South African junior teams who returned to the country this past weekend from the under 18 ITF/CAT African Junior Championships.
The 41st under 18 boys and girls tournament was held at the Royal Tennis Club in Marrakech, Morocco.
Top seeded Philip Henning of Bloemfontein was crowned the African junior tennis King when he captured the coveted boys singles title winning 6-1 6-1 against second seed Yassir Kilani of Morocco.
The title was not an easy one for Henning as in the semi-finals he found himself a set and 1-3 15-40 down against another Moroccan, Soufiane El Mesbahi. Henning made a dramatic comeback beating the Moroccan 0-6 6-3 6-1 to qualify for the final.
“It was a tough week. The tournament was of a high standard and each and every match in its own way was a big challenge for me from the opening round to the final. I dug so deep in my semi-final to secure the win and played a great final, making few errors and not giving my opponent much opportunity. The win means a lot to me. I have always dreamed of winning the African Junior Championships and in the past years I have come close but couldn’t quite win the title so in my last year as a junior it’s fantastic to have finally lifted the crown” said 17 year old Henning.
Rene Plant, South Africa’s Fed Cup Captain who travelled with the team as girls team coach said Philip was a great role model. “Philip is such a fine example to his team mates. He showed them how to really dig deep and keep fighting despite being down.
Another South African, Lleyton Cronje of Pretoria put in a strong performance to reach the boys semi-finals losing to Kilani, 7-5 3-6 4-6.
Marcos Ondruska the South African Davis Cup captain who was the boys team coach gave full compliments to Henning on his win. “Philip’s win was outstanding. He had a tough match to start the week, and getting through that one tough match, set the tone for playing each match better than the previous one.”
Ondruska said that he was happy with the overall boys performance. “With Lleyton Cronje reaching the semis and Kholo Montsi (Cape Town) and Christiaan Worst (Pretoria) played phenomenal tennis all week.”
Both South African boys doubles teams, Henning and Worst as well as Cronje and Montsi reached the boys doubles semi-finals.
In the girls singles, Megan Basson who is still under 16 was the best performing South African girl reaching the singles quarterfinals.
“Considering that the team had to play on clay, they did themselves proud and it was a great learning experience” said Plant. “There was a great team spirit and camaraderie amongst the South African players. “
Morocco continued their domination of African junior tennis winning the overall team title. Morocco won the Girls under 18 singles and had a semi-finalist in the same draw. They also captured the Girls under 18 doubles title. With two pairs of semi-finalist in the singles and also in the boys and girls doubles the Moroccan’s earned the most team points of all 18 nations competing. South Africa finished in second place behind the hosts on the team ladder.
Ondruska said that the South African team that travelled to North Africa were a very talented group of juniors that were able to produce the goods on large stages like the African Junior Championships.
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