South African wheelchair tennis aces Kgothatso Montjane and Lucas Sithole made swift progress as they advanced to the final round untroubled in the third day session of the Melbourne Open, an International Tennis Federation (ITF) level 2 event which forms part of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
Seventh seeded Montjane who made titles on Tuesday after eliminating world no.2 Yui Kamiji secured a spot in Thursday women singles final after Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock retired at 6-6 (4-2) due to a shoulder/neck pain. The greatest rivalry in women’s tennis will take to the court again at the Melbourne Open on Thursday when Montjane and world no.6 Marjolein Buis do battle in Melbourne to decide who takes the glory. Buis defeated unseeded Zhenzhen Zhu of China 6-3 7-6(3) in the semi-final.
Montjane and doubles partner Louise Hunt, seeded 2 in the women’s doubles booked a spot in the final after they knocked out third seeds Charlotte Famin and Emmanuelle Morch both from France 6-4 6-3. The pair will go against Chinese duo of Hui Min Huang and Zhenzhen Zhu in Thursday’s final.
In the quads tournament, former US Open champion Lucas Sithole eased passed Brit’s Antony Cotterill in straight sets 6-1 6-3 to advance to the final. The world no.3 will meet third seed Andy Lapthorne in tomorrow’s final who caused another upset when he toppled top seed and world no.1 Dylan Alcott 7-6(4) 6-3 . Sithole and Lapthorne have met 19 times in their careers, starting in 2012 at the British Open with world no.4 Lapthorne leading 10-9.
Sithole and doubles partner Heath Davidson will face Brit’s pair Antony Cotterill and Andy Lapthorne tomorrow for the doubles title.
“We are very proud of the two players having made it this far in the tournament especially going into the Australian Open Grand Slam. This gives us a huge hope that both Sithole and Montjane will do their country proud in the finals tomorrow and going into the Grand Slam”, said Wheelchair Tennis South Africa General Manager Karen Losch.
Montjane & Sithole through to Melbourne Open Final
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