Seeds advance to quarter-finals at Futures

The only seeded men’s player to battle through to the last eight was fifth seed Milos Sekulic of Sweden.

Sekulic needed 3 hours and 39 minutes to oust South African junior Francois Kellerman of Cape Town 7-6 (4) 6-7 (5) 7-6 (5) to meet third seeded American Tyler Hochwalt for a place in the semi-finals.

Hochwalt, coached by former South African pro Chris Haggard, beat Tuki Jacobs of Namibia 6-4 6-2 in round two.

Top seed Fritz Wolmarans of South Africa once again dominated with his big serve, putting out compatriot Benjamin Janse van Rensburg 6-4 6-2.

It was a good win for Wolmarans considering Janse van Rensburg is playing some of the best tennis of his career, having being a surprise finalist in last weekend’s Wilson Challenge in Johannesburg.

“I am very happy that I won. I am now one step closer to the finish. I’m satisfied with the way I played, I gave it my best,” Wolmarans said.

“I haven’t played in the country in a few years and it’s good to be back. It was also my first time playing Benjamin, but I did well.”

Wolmarans will have to pull out all the stops in Thursday’s quarter-final, when he plays fellow Davis Cup team mate Ruan Roelofse.

Roelofse, seeded six, made short work of his second round match, trouncing Ronak Maija of India 6-2 6-2.

The top seed believes his chances are good at Sun City.

“I think I stand a pretty good chance especially since I am first seed. However there are lots of very good players here, the likes of Ruan Roelofse and Tucker Vorster amongst others,” Wolmarans said.

“So I will just have to give my best on all matches.”

Second seed Tucker Vorster was an easy 6-2 6-4 winner over Zimbabwean Mark Finn and will face seventh seeded Augusto Laranja of Brazil in the quarter-finals.

The fourth South African to make it through to the last eight was Damon Gooch, seeded eight, who will play Sweden’s Jacob Adaktusson, the fourth seed, on Thursday.

In the women’s singles, top seed Madrie le Roux found her true form when she beat Australian Maria Knott 6-3 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals. Le Roux will next meet seventh seed Ani Vangelova of Bulgaria. Vangelova beat Chelsea Te Tai of New Zealand 6-2 6-1 in round two.

South Africa’s Caitlin Herb, unseeded, caused the only upset of the day when she came from behind to shock fourth seed Alexandra Riley, of the US, 1-6 7-5 6-3. Herb now plays Serbian Vanja Klaric in the last eight.

Klaric, who was the winner of last week’s Wilson Challenge shocked sixth seeded American Casey Robinson on Monday in round one.

The remaining players to make the quarter-finals are South African’s (2) Natasha Fourouclas and (3) Michelle Sammons plus (5) Stephanie Kent (US) and (8) Amelie Intert (Ger).

– Sapa