Aces all the way for SA tennis juniors
SOUTH African junior tennis players enjoyed a good week at the Wanderers Junior ITF tournament held at Wanderers.
In a clean sweep of titles for the host nation, Kris van Wyk of Western Province and Lee Barnard of Gauteng North were victorious in the singles on Friday.
In the boys’ singles Van Wyk, seeded four, enjoyed a brilliant week, in the final he beat unseeded Philip Franken of Boland 6-4, 6-3. Van Wyk’s serve and volley tactics were on song in the final as he powered his way to victory with an aggressive game plan.
Following the victory, Van Wyk said, “I know Philip real well and I knew that to have the best chance against him I had to come into the net, especially on the backhand side, and keep it low on the backhand until I had a chance to complete the point.”
In the girls’ singles, Lee Barnard, seeded five, beat unseeded Minette van Vreden of Boland 6-2, 6-2 in a relatively one-sided final. Good pace by Barnard put pressure on Van Vreden throughout the 74-minute match, which forced Van Vreden into a string of unforced errors throughout.
Like Van Wyk, this is Barnard’s second international title after winning her debut title in Namibia earlier this year. “I am very happy to have won today” she said. “I played well today and felt good on court, was real focused and motivated. This is my second international title and I really hope there are many more.”
Van Wyk teamed up with compatriot Brandon Laubser to win the doubles title. The top seeds beat third seeded twin brothers, Francois and Okkie Lellerman 7-5, 5-7, 10-5.
In the girls’ doubles final, it wasa battle between two sets of twins. Third seeds Lee and Zani Barnard upset second seeds Huibre-Mare and Louise-Mare Botes 6-2, 6-2.
