Sithole on top of his game
Lucas Sithole managed to regain his South African Open Wheelchair Tennis title.
LUCAS Sithole managed to regain his South African Open Wheelchair Tennis title, beating Israel’s Itay Erenlib 6-2, 6-4 in the quads final at the Ellis Park Tennis Stadium on April 14.
But this was not without experiencing frustration because of the rain falling throughout the tournament. Rain stopped play for many of the wheelchair players during the week at the SA Open, which resulted in many matches being postponed to different time slots.
Sithole’s match, which began on Thursday, was postponed to Friday morning because of persistent rain. And with Sithole 6-2, 3-0 up when the rain halted play, it seemed that the rest of the match on Friday would be a bit of a formality.
But Erenlib fought his way back to level the second set at 3-3, with his eyes firmly set on regaining the title he last won in 2015. Sithole, however, slowly took back control, winning the next two games and eventually the championship.
“I’m very happy with the way I played from the first match to the last one,” he said. “There were a lot of challenges in most of the matches but I’m glad I could overcome them and keep the trophy at home.”
“Yesterday was good. I played my best tennis until the rain stopped us. Then this morning, Itay played very solidly. He kept hitting on the forehand side until he was 3-3. That’s when I needed to start playing my own game and once I did that, it was easy. It was important for me to win as I got a lot of rankings points and will maybe jump to number three in the world next week Monday so it was a good opportunity for me, which I grabbed with both hands.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Sithole said there are still aspects of his game he needs to work on. “I think the most important thing I need to work on is my movement. I think I’m getting a little bit fat,” he said.
“This brings a lot of confidence because there’s still a long way to go in the season. I have the Japan Open and the Korea tour and France coming up, so winning today is going to give me that confidence going forward to the next tournaments. I just need to play my game and make sure I win the last point of the match.”
In the men’s singles final it was victory for Sweden as Stefan Olsson claimed his first ever SA Open title – and also his first ITF Super Series win.
Photo: Annette van Schalkwyk
Olsson dominated from start to finish to defeat Paralympic champion Gordon Reid of Britain 6-4, 6-2.
Olsson said, “It’s wonderful, hard to describe at the moment – the feeling is overwhelming. I’m really happy that I have been able to play this well all week. I’m playing really solidly and I thought I did really well in making his best shots look like I could do it even better. Today my game plan was totally perfect.”
“The confidence is so high – I can’t really believe it and I’m playing my best tennis ever at the moment. Hopefully I can keep it up,” said Olsson, who will now play in the French Championships before heading to the World Team Cup in Italy.
Meanwhile, in the all-Dutch showdown for the women’s singles title it was Diede de Groot who emerged as another first-time champion. De Groot defeated teammate Marjolein Buis, who tweaked a back muscle during the match, 6-1, 6-0 to lift the SA Open trophy.
The duo then teamed up and went on to win the women’s doubles title, beating Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany and Charlotte Famin of France 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
“This is my first Super Series title so that is a very good thing,” said De Groot, “I started a bit nervous – it’s a Super Series final so there are a lot of things going on in your head but I tried to stay focused and from 1-0 down I didn’t lose a game so that was great.You always want to end the tournament with another win, of course. So, to win the doubles as well and finish with two titles is so good and makes me really happy to come back again.”
For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You can also email our offices on cvdwalt@caxton.co.za, juliem@caxton.co.za or luckyt@caxton.co.za
Add us on WhatsApp today! Alberton Record: 060 644 5264 Comaro Chronicle: 079 427 8074 and Southern Courier: 079 404 5789.
