'Gratitude all round' as Montjane-Kamiji lift Doubles Masters title
Kgothatso Montjane has long since considered herself to be a product of the ITF and its wheelchair tennis development programme partner the Cruyff Foundation, having first picked up a racket at the age of 19 and then being offered the opportunity to participate in a Cruyff Foundation development camp in the Netherlands.
It was the start of a journey that led to being given a wild card for the Beijing 2008 Paralympics and some 15 years later she is now the first African woman to win a title at the year-end championships, the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters.
“It’s just gratitude all round for me,” said Montane after she partnered Yui Kamiji to beat Dutch top seeds Diede de Groot and Jiske Griffioen 6-2 6-1 in the women’s final at this year’s Doubles Masters.
Kamiji and Montjane’s victory on the penultimate day of seven in Barcelona brought the only title that was not for a top--seeded partnership after Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid beat defending champions Martin de la Puente and Gustavo Fernandez 3-6 6-2 (10-6) to lift their third men’s title. Sam Schroder and Niels Vink also claimed their third quad doubles title after eased to a 6-1 6-1 victory over Heath Davidson and Robert Shaw.
“I’m always grateful for the opportunity to play this sport,” Montjane continued. “I started late and I grew to love wheelchair tennis, so I’m just grateful for the opportunity and grateful to everyone who has supported me, but also just grateful for the Tour itself and to the ITF for giving us this opportunity to play this sport at the highest level.”
“It’s great that from the first time we played together (in May 2022) we won the first of many titles. It’s great to have made this combination work. It wasn’t easy for us to decide to do it, but we are producing the results that we always wished for. We play better on clay because the surface is not so fast, but today we approached the match with the mentality we’d adopted going into the US Open final. We didn’t get the chance to play that final, but we brought that same attitude.
For the record, Kamiji and Montjane’s second victory over De Groot and Griffioen since June this year earned them their ninth title together at the end of a season that they also end as Roland Garros and US Open champions.
Except it’s not the end of the season for Kamiji. She has won last match to play, when she faces De Groot in Sunday’s women’s singles final.
“Everything is special for me, to win the title and to enjoy every time I play with KG,” said Kamiji. “We have never won this title together, so I’m very happy. We’re very good on a clay court, especially, and both of us like to play on clay. We can use the full court and mix the type of balls we play.”
Ten years ago Kamiji became the first non-Dutch player to win the women’s title at the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters. The same year she partnered another of her best friends, Jordanne Whiley, to win the first of two back-to-back women’s doubles titles. Can she repeat the dual success of 2023?
“Singles and doubles is obviously not the same and I can more enjoy to play doubles because I have a partner by my side and it’s one of my best friends, so it gives me courage,” said Kamiji, who attempts to end De Groot’s 126-match winning streak in Sunday’s women’s singles final.
“Tomorrow I have to do it by myself,” she added, laughing. “It’s been tough to adapt to the different surface so close to the Asian Para Games (which was played on a hard court), so I’m a bit surprised to make the final in both singles and doubles and I still need to fix some things, but I hope I can do well.”
Top seeds claim men’s and quad doubles titles
Hewett and Reid lifted their third ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters men’s title since 2017 after coming back from a set and 2-0 down to beat seeds and defending champions Martin de la Puente and Gustavo Fernandez.
It was a victory that looked unlikely for the 18-time Grand Slam champions as they were taken to a deciding match tie-break by their opponents for the second match in a row. But Hewett and Reid slowly wrestled the momentum from De la Puente and Fernandez to lead 4-2 in the second set and some untimely errors from the second seeds proved costly as Hewett ultimately fired a forehand down the line to compete victory.
While Hewett and Reid’s three men’s doubles titles have come over a period of six editions of the Doubles Masters, Schroder and Vink’s three quad doubles titles have come back-to-back.
For the second year in a row Davidson and Shaw were the partnership to feel the full force of the Dutch partnership’s domination as they extended their head-to-head record against Davidson and Saw to 12-0.
Schroder and Vink will now play each other in Sunday’s quad singles final, while Hewett and Fernandez will also go head-to-head for the second in a row and for the third time this week in the men’s singles final.