The country’s top wheelchair tennis quad ace Lucas Sithole added another title to his accolades when he clinched his second doubles title in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday.
The second time Paralympic Games qualifier put an icing on the cake with another magnificent Swiss Open campaign teaming up with Heath Davidson from Australia for a second doubles crown. The duo defeated American pair Bryan Barten and former world number one David Wagner 1-6 6-4 [10-3].
The Swiss Open, an International Tennis Federation (ITF) level 1 event forms part of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour and Sithole’s participation in the event was made possible by Airports Company South Africa, the game sponsor.
In the singles event, the 29-year-old was as focused and determined, posting a confident win over Timmermans Hall from the Netherlands 2-6 6-0 6-1 in the opening round, went on and outplayed American Bryan Barten 4-6 6-3 6-3 in the second round. Although Sithole could not make it a double after coming short in the quads final against his biggest rival David Wagner, he played with passion to win the title of the Swiss Open quads’ singles runner up.
The American world number two denied the KwaZulu-Natal born star the singles title in Geneva in 2014 and made a repeat in this year’s event.
Sithole said he battled with tough wind conditions but admitted that there was still plenty to work on after having his new wheelchair for a short space of time. “I struggled with the wind, it was very strong today and I couldn’t play my best game. I also have to work on my returns and still getting my way around the new chair,” said the world number three.
The two-time Grand-slam champion will move on to the next tournament and will be joined by the country’s top men’s ace at the German Open, an ITF level 2 event which will runs between 20 and 24 July 2016 in Berlin, Germany.
