Tuesday, 06 October 2015, Bloemfontein, South Africa. – Top seeds Mariska Venter and Leon Els cruised into the Airports Company South Africa Bloem Open final, an International Tennis Federation (ITF) Futures event, part of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis tour with straight-sets wins in their semi-final round matches on Tuesday.
Venter, the women’s top seed, strolled into the Bloem Open final round with a 54-minute demolition of fourth-seeded Nonkanyiso Nyosi 6-0 6-0 keeping alive her hopes for her first title in Mangaung.
The former world no.1 junior next plays 2nd-seeded compatriot Thando Hlatswayo, a 6-1 6-2 winner over 3rd-seeded Nokwande Hlongwane.
Playing mostly mistake-free tennis, men’s top seed Els reached the finals in Mangaung, made a few unforced errors, and breezed past 4th-seeded Daniel Shmulik of Israel 6-1 6-1.
“Overall I am excited that I got the results I expected,” Els said. “It wasn’t an easy match because Daniel plays very high deep balls but I figured it out at the end and won the match.”
“It’ll be a tough match against Langmann tomorrow, we’ve played each other a few times,” Els added. “He is a good and strong player. He serves extremely well and doesn’t give you too many chances.”
Next up for the South African, will be a match against Austria’s Nico Langmann seeded 2, who defeated third-seeded Amir Levi of Israel 7-5 6-4.
South African no.2 quad ace and top seed Bongani Dlamini needed an 1 hour and 10 minutes to register his easy win to reach the Bloem Open final round. Dlamini will go head-to-head against Soweto Open champion and second seed Danny Mohlamonyane who defeated Nkosenye Nkosi 6-2 6-1.
Top junior Alwande Skhosana produced a rock solid performance to demolish 3rd-seeded Ian Snyman 6-1 6-0 to set up a final clash against unseeded Mpho Mhlongo who caused an upset knocking out 2nd-seeded Alfred Gaje 6-1 6-3.
Girls top seed Nokwande Hlongwane breezed by 3rd-seeded Asive Gilifile 6-2 6-2. She will meet 4th-seeded Wendy Hlongwane in the finals after Hlongwane dispatched 2nd-seeded Judith Mdaka.
Play starts at 09h00 on Wednesday.
