Wheelchair star Montjane shines in Louisiana

South Africa’s top women’s wheelchair tennis star, Kgothatso “KG ” Montjane, added another title to her list of achievements when she won the doubles event at the 25th annual Cajun Classic Wheelchair Tennis Tournament in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the weekend.

The ITF Grade 1 event was contested at the Lamar Tennis Centre from 19 to 23 March.

Semi-finals

Seeded number one, Montjane and her British doubles partner Jordanne Whiley had comfortable wins over their opponents to reach the semi-finals where they faced the fourth seeded duo of The Netherlands’ Jiske Griffioen and Francisca Mardones of Chile. They won 7-5, 6-0.

The final against Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock, the world’s number one singles player, and Great Britain’s Lucy Shuker proved to be the match of the tournament, with Montjane and Whiley eventually triumphing 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 11-9.

Previous success

Previously Montjane and Whiley played together in the USTA US Open Super Series in September 2013 and also lifted the title on that occasion.

Montjane, the world number seven, reached the quarterfinals of the singles, where she went down to world number five Marjolein Buis in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

Commenting after the tournament, Montjane said: “I am happy with the doubles win and have seen where I need to concentrate on in my singles game.”

Evans Maripa

South Africa’s number one men’s player Evans Maripa cruised past the USA’s Larry Keeter in his first match, winning 6-1, 6-0.

Against world number eight, Takuya Miki of Japan, Maripa played focused tennis and showed why he is considered one of the most talented players on the tour. After a slow start he eventually went down in three sets, with Miki securing a 6-0, 6-7 (2- 7), 7-5 victory.

Forthcoming South African tournaments

Through support from Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), Montjane and Maripa will be contesting the Pensacola Open from 26 to 30 March before returning to South Africa to prepare for the Acsa Gauteng Open, which takes place from 23 to 27 April, and the Acsa SA Open, which runs from 29 April to 3 May.

SA Sports Awards Coach of the Year 2013, Holger Losch, said in a statement: “I am elated and proud of KG’s doubles win. KG and Evans are taking away as much as they can from these tournaments, in preparation for the upcoming Super Series in South Africa.”

By: SAinfo reporter

Source:www.southafrica.info