Dalien Kleinhans successfully defended her Gauteng North ITF girls singles title on Saturday, when the third-seed from Bloemfontein dominated her opponent in fifty-five minutes, upsetting top seed Megan Basson 6-0 6-2 in the final.
Basson won the ITF Wanderers title last weekend, but was stopped short of winning the double by a determined Kleinhans.
“I lost to Megan in the semi-finals last week at the Wanderers ITF, and even though I was defending champion here in Pretoria, I felt it important to get revenge over Megan,” said Kleinhans after her win.
“Megan is a tough competitor, and last year when I won my maiden international title here in Pretoria, it was a tough three set win over Megan so I knew today could be rough.
“I spoke to my dad (Marnus Kleinhans) who is my coach over the phone ahead of the final (he was in Bloemfontein) and we planned a match strategy to play aggressive, go big from the start of the match and hold serve. That strategy worked and I really “zoned” from start to finish, and surprised myself with the way I played, and score line,” said Kleinhans.
Kleinhans, a Eunice High School pupil admitted that after winning the opening set 6-0 in a quick half hour, she had to focus even more and play tougher.
“I have played Megan a bunch of times before, and (have) won the first set easily then lost the match. I was not going to let that happen today, so lifted my game going into the third set and kept even greater composure.”
Marne Dercksen and Linge Steenkamp (RSA) won the girls doubles title. The second seeds beat third-seeded Tamsin Hart and Delien Kleinhans (RSA) 6-3 7-5.
Results of the Gauteng North ITF played at the Groenkloof Tennis Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday 27 July, 2018 (RSA unless stated):
Girls Singles Final:
3-Delien Kleinhans bt 1-Megan Basson 6-0 6-2
Girls Doubles Final:
2-Marne Dercksen/Linge Steenkamp bt 3-Tamsin Hart/Delien Kleinhans 6-3 7-5
Photo 1 Caption: Third seeded Delien Kleinhans (Bloemfontein) of South Africa successfully defended her Gauteng North Junior ITF girls singles title at the Groenkloof Stadium. Kleinhans upset top seed and fellow South African Megan Basson 6-0 6-2 in the final. Photo: BLD Communications
Photo 2 Caption: Gauteng North Junior ITF champion, Delien Kleinhans (left) and runner-up, Megan Basson. Photo: BLD Communications
Photo 3 Caption: The 2018 Gauteng North ITF girls doubles champions are from left Marne Dercksen and Linge Steenkamp. In the all South African final, second seeded Dercksen and Steenkamp beat third seeded Tamsin hart and Delien Kleinhans 6-3 7-5. Photo: BLD Communications
With editing by gsport
(0 rating, 0 votes, rated)
Loading...
