Sublime South Africa book World Cup berth
South Africa booked their place in the ITF Beach Tennis World Cup with back-to-back victories over Mozambique and Uganda on Thursday.
The final day of the Beach Tennis African Cup saw the hosts clinch the southern and eastern African spot in this year’s World Cup, which is due to take place in October.
The morning session saw South Africa run away with victory in all three of the matches against Mozambique without losing a game. Mozambique had to retire in the mixed doubles when Ana Vasilis injured her wrist attempting to dive for a ball at the end of the first set.
This left Uganda with the uphill struggle of having to defeat South Africa 3-0 in an attempt to force a three-way tie within the group, with South Africa and Mozambique being level with one victory each.
Uganda put their best foot forward, but ultimately the hosts were too strong for the visitors with South Africa wrapping up the tie 3-0 in relative ease to earn their qualification spot.
With the inaugural regional qualification event having been concluded, the focus switches to the Individual Championships that will take place on Friday and Saturday where the players partner one another in men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles events to see who can walk away from Badplaas with the spoils.
The men’s doubles sees seven teams having entered and will be played in two round-robin groups, with the respective group winners facing off in a final.
The women’s draw is a group of five where all the teams will play against one another and the team finishing first overall in the group will be the winner.
Mixed doubles, which is optional, is a knockout draw of 10 teams, with a consolation event being organised.
The next two days will see players gain valuable time on the sand as it is thought that match time is a key factor at this stage in order to continue the further development of beach tennis in the region.
A development clinic courtesy of Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency will be held on Saturday morning for children from the local community, with a workshop being planned in the afternoon for all players to learn more about the basics of beach tennis and to be able to share ideas on how to grow the game.
Results
South Africa d. Mozambique 3-0
Women’s Doubles: Joane’ Janse van Rensburg / Laeticia Lourens (RSA) d. Ubeyla Bique / Ana Vasilis (MOZ) 6-0 6-0
Men’s Doubles: Jody Claasen / Reynard Steenkamp (RSA) d. Stelio Carlo / Jaime Sigauque (MOZ) 6-0 6-0
Mixed Doubles: Ryan Brookshaw / Kyla Yelverton (RSA) d. Jaime Sigaugue / Ana Vasilis (MOZ) 6-0 ret.
South Africa d. Uganda 3-0
Women’s Doubles: Kyla Yelverton / Joane’ Janse van Rensburg (RSA) d. Patience Athieno / Sandra Khissa (UGA) 6-0 6-0
Men’s Doubles: Ryan Brookshaw / Jody Claasen (RSA) d. Moses Bashaasha / Jonathan Mugisha (UGA) 6-0 6-3
Mixed Doubles: Reynard Steenkamp / Laeticia Lourens (RSA) d. Jonathan Mugisha / Patience Athieno (UGA) 6-1 6-0