The two top seeds in the boys’ draw – Richard Thongoana and Joshua Howard-Tripp – will face each other in Saturday’s Curro Junior ITF 2 final played in Stellenbosch.
Number one Thongoana had a three set battle against third seed Bertus Kruger, who won both 2015 Curro Junior ITF tournaments. Kruger won the first set 6-0, but Thongoana broke Kruger’s serve immediately in the second set and from there the top seed took charge of the battle. The score of 0-6, 6-1 and 6-2 looks easy, but almost each game had breakpoints and Kruger did have his chances. In the end Thongoana held his nerve and won the match for a place in the final against last week’s champion and second seed Howard-Tripp. If Thongoana manages to win he will be the first top seed to win the Curro Junior ITF tournament in the past few years.
Howard-Tripp was on the verge of losing the first set against Dutchman Ien Schouten, but broke the fourth seed’s serve to fight back and in the end he won the match 7-5, 6-2. After losing his serve the Dutchman struggled to focus again and battled just as much with himself as with Howard-Tripp, who was merciless on attack.
The final between the top seeds should be a cracker.
The girls’ final will once again be an all international affair and a repeat from last week’s final with fifth seed Adrienn Nagy facing unseeded Holy Fischer. Hungary’s Nagy beat unseeded French player Diane Parry 7-5, 6-3 to book her place in the final two. Fischer, who won last week’s tournament, beat the only South African left in the draw, fourth seed Maxine Bateman 6-1, 6-4.
Both singles and doubles’ finals will be played on Saturday. Action starts at 09:00.
