Isabella Kruger and Zoe Kruger will be eager to lift the trophy on Saturday after being handed a place in the doubles final at the at the ITF World Tennis Tour W50 tournament in Pretoria on Saturday, 2 March, 2024.
The South African siblings won their first-round match earlier in the week before being given a walkover in the quarterfinals after American player Clervie Ngounoue was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to illness.
In another stroke of luck, the Kruger sisters got another walkover on Friday after French player Alyssa Reuger and Belgian partner Amelia Waligora withdrew ahead of their semi-final.
The SA pairing will face Alina Charaeva and Ekaterina Reyngold in the final on Saturday, with the Russian duo having defeated compatriots Anastasia Kovaleva and Ekaterina Shalimova 6-2 7-5 in their semi-final clash.
In the singles competition, top seed Laura Pigossi of Brazil beat Manon Leonard of France 6-2 6-1, and Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium stunned No 2 seed Gabriela Knutson of the Czech Republic with a hard-fought 7-5 6-7 7-6 victory in the semi-finals.
“I played against a really good player today (Leonard) but I knew her game and I studied it, and I think I played perfectly tactically, so I’m really happy with the way I played and really happy to be in the final,” Pigossi said.
“I just have to keep focusing on myself. I’m playing well and I’m feeling confident, so I just want to bring that into the final.”
Pigossi and 19-year-old Vandewinkel will compete in the final on Saturday, scheduled to start at 10h00.
The finals will be broadcast live on SABC Sport on DTT Channel 4, SABC+, and sabcsport.com. Highlights will be aired on SABC 2 on Sunday from 11h30 to 12h30.
Main Photo Caption: Top seed Laura Pigossi (pictured) of Brazil defeated Manon Leonard of France to secure a spot in the finals of the Wiphold International, an ITF women’s $40,000 event held at TuksTennis, University of Pretoria on Friday, 1 March, 2024. Photo: Barco Greeff
Photo 2 Caption: Isabella Kruger (pictured) and her sister Zoe will compete in the doubles finals after receiving another walkover on Friday. Photo: Barco Greeff
Photo 3 Caption: Zoe Kruger (pictured) and sister Isabella received the walkover after player Alyssa Reuger and partner Amelia Waligora withdrew. Photo: Barco Greeff
Photo 4 Caption: Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium stunned No 2 seed Gabriela Knutson of the Czech Republic with a hard-fought 7-5 6-7 7-6 victory in the semi-finals, to face Brazil’s Laura Pigossi in Saturday’s singles final. Photo: Barco Greeff
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