Picture credits: Wheelchair Tennis South Africa
Monday, 21 September 2015, Ile de Re, France. – After losing to second seed Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany in the women singles semi-final match at Ile de Re, France, the left-hander from Limpopo teamed up with Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Morch to clinch the Toyota Open International de L’ile de Re doubles title against Dutch pair Marjolein Buis and Diede De Groot on Saturday.
Montjane displayed astonishing sangfroid playing Ellerbrock but went down 7-6(2) 7-6(3) but put her disappointment aside and played a decisive role in the doubles and emerged victorious.
Neither of the top two seeded partnerships featured in the final after the third seeds Montjane and Morch completed a comfortable 6-3 6-0 win over second seeds Michaela Spaanstra and Kaitlyn Verfuerth in the semifinal clash. The match was suspended after rain had brought an early end to Friday’s fourth day of play when the pair was leading by a set and 3-0. The match resumed on Saturday and the third seeds wasted no time in pulling off an amazing win, taking all three games to wrap up a 6-3 6-0 victory.
However the title decider provided both sets of finalists with a much tougher challenge before Montjane and Morch eventually sealed a thrilling 6-4 4-6 (10-7) victory over the Dutch pair.
In the men’s tournament, the country top ranked Evans Maripa lost to top seed Joachim Gerard of Belgium 2-6 4-6 in the quarterfinal round. Maripa and doubles partner Robinson Mendez were knocked out in round 1 after top seeds Michael Jeremiasz and Nicolas Peifer produced an incredible triumph to clinch the match in straight sets 6-1 6-1.
Montjane and Maripa will now go on to represent the country at the Sardinia Open, also an ITF level 1 event at Alghero in Italy starting from 22 – 26 September 2015.
