THE ITF J5 junior tennis tournament in Windhoek continued at the Central Tennis Courts in Windhoek yesterday, with most of the top seeds progressing to the quarterfinals.
In the boys singles second round matches, the top seeded Benedict Badza of Zimbabwe had an easy 6-0, 6-1 victory against Jovan Lubbe of South Africa to book a quarterfinal spot against Elias Hoxha of Austria.
Hoxha beat Namibia’s last remaining player, George Louw, who was seeded fifth, 6-3, 6-3.
The second-seeded Mark Nawa of Botswana also comfortably progressed to the quarterfinals after beating Johannes van Wijk of South Africa 6-2, 6-4.
Nawa will now face the unseeded Evan Jarzaguet of France, who beat another unseeded player, Theo Nilsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-1.
The third-seeded Yarona Morule of South Africa booked his place in the quarterfinals with a straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Maris Ostrowski of Austria.
Morule will now meet compatriot Rudiger Dusselberg, who beat another South African, John Coetzee 7-5, 6-2.
The unseeded Francois van Wyk of SA beat another unseeded player, Yoshka Sborowsky of France, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 and will now meet compatriot Peet Karsten who progressed to the quarterfinals after his opponent, the sixth-seeded Hayden Loffler of Swaziland withdrew.
A big upset occurred in the women’s singles competition where the unseeded Andraina Voavy of Madagascar sent the second seed, Shahd Habib of Egypt packing with an impressive 6-1, 6-1 victory.
Voavy will now meet the fifth-seeded South African, Celina Joseph in the quarterfinals, who beat Namibia’s Leandre Louw 6-0, 6-0.
The top-seeded Dune Vaissaud of France progressed to the quarterfinals after a straight sets 6-2, 6-4 victory against Harena Voaviandraina of Madagascar, and will now meet the seventh seeded Anika Kleinhans of South Africa, who beat Aileen Hoxha of Austria 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in a marathon match of two and a half hours.
The third-seeded Erin McKenzie of South Africa progressed to the quarterfinals after her opponent Rethabile Moshaoa of Botswana withdrew, and will now meet the unseeded Vera Sokolova of Russia, who beat the eighth-seeded Kaitlyn Ramduth of South Africa 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 in a marathon three-setter of more than three hours.
Sokolova displayed nerves of steel to overcome five match points against her before sealing the win.
The fourth-seeded Naledi Raguin of Botswana beat Ashtyn Cason of SA 6-3, 6-3, and will now meet the unseeded South African, Mia Leshem who beat compatriot Claire Jaramba 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.