With the battle royale complete, a final hurdle awaited.
Four weeks after the first serve in anger, the two best doubles pairings went head to head for the Weltevreden Park Tennis Club Double Championship on August 13. Unbeaten throughout the round robin and knockout sections, Yusuf Coovadia and Stephane Duponsel were up against Joe Patel and Riaz Dinath, a pairing whose only defeat of the competition came against their final opponents.
Light banter and serious stares were followed by a marathon opening game. Reaching deuce several times, Coovadia and Duponsel would eventually break Patel’s serve in the first game thanks to a nervy few double faults. Duponsel held serve, as did Dinath and Coovadia before Patel’s serve was again broken. The remainder of the set followed serve as Coovadia wrapped up the first set 6–2.
The first set score would suggest a one-sided affair but each pair had tested the other by finding space where available and keeping each other guessing with varied shot selection, but Duponsel’s sharp reactions at the net and Coovadia’s deft placement separated the pairs. Adamant to take the best of the three-set contest to a decider, the second set saw Patel serve with more purpose and accuracy while Dinath minimised the errors.
As a result, the second set was tighter as with each point won Patel and Dinath grew in confidence. Coovadia and Duponsel would weather the storm to earn a break midway through the set to make it 5–3. Patel would serve well to peg it back to 5–4 but Coovadia would not miss the opportunity to serve for the championship. On match point, one last stretch was needed and, scraping the racquet against the court, Coovadia dug out the return to force a missed volley, earning the championship point and a straight sets 6–2, 6–4 victory.
Proud of his winners trophy and fellow members, Coovadia said, “On behalf of the Weltevreden Park Tennis Club (WPTC) I want to thank all the players who participated in the 2022 doubles club champs.
“The club’s quality of players is growing day by day and as a club we are competing at various levels in Gauteng Tennis which is good for the players representing club level. I would like to thank everyone who contributes positively to the success and well-being of WPTC both on and off the court.”
