SA wheelchair tennis star wins 1st doubles title of the season

Top-ranked South African male wheelchair tennis player, Evans Maripa (26), won the doubles title together with Stefan Olsson from Sweden in Bolton, Great Britain on Saturday.

LIMPOPO – The pair played together for the second time following their team debut at the 2016 SA Open where they reached the doubles semi-finals.

The champions dispatched Daniel Caverzaschi (ESP) and Maikel Scheffers (NED) with a dazzling 6-3 6-1 in the final round of the USN Bolton Arena, an International Tennis Federation (ITF) level 2 event on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour 2017, their first doubles title for the season.

Also read: Maripa into quarter-final game

“Despite losing the singles quarter-final, I am super happy that Stefan and I were able to take the doubles title and this victory will definitely boost my morale throughout the season,” commented Maripa.

In the men’s singles event, Maripa easily disposed of Ruairi Logan from Britain 6-2 6-2 in the opening round, but was denied a semi-final spot by his doubles partner Olsson, when the world number 7 ended the Limpopo star’s run with a 6-3 6-3 win in the quarter-finals.

Also read: Lim’s wheelchair tennis darlings aim for top spot

Prior to the USN Bolton Arena, Maripa participated in the ABN AMRO World Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands where he reached the quarter-final round in the singles and doubles events.

The world number 14 impressed when he caused a huge upset by demolishing the world number 11, Tom Egberink, from the Netherlands, with a stunning 6-1 0-6 6-1 thriller to reach the quarter-final round but was knocked out in the last eight by world number 1, Stephane Houdet, from France.

Exit mobile version