It all went pretty much according to plan on the second day of the Digicall Futures 2 tennis tournament played in Stellenbosch.
Top seeds Jordi Samper-Montana (Spain) and South Africa’s Chanel Simmonds both advanced to the second round of the tournament. Simmonds needed a mere 58 minutes to beat Senaida Kambel from Holland 6-0, 6-1. Simmonds won the first tournament in a series for three.
“It is always difficult to play your first match after a good week so I’m happy with how it all went today. The past two days my body felt a bit tired, but I’m feeling great now that I have been on court and played again,” said Simmonds after her match.
Second seed Valeria Bhunu from Zimbabwe once again faced a very determined Kaitlyn Christian from America. And like last week the unseeded Christian, who played in Sunday’s final, got the better of Bhunu and won 6-4, 6-3 in just under two hours.
In the men’s draw Samper-Montana made easy work of his match against Canada’s Washi Gervais by winning 6-4, 6-1. Samper-Montana did not play last week.
South Africa’s Lloyd Harris – seeded second and last week’s champion – needed just more than an hour to beat Hong Kong’s Skyler Butts 6-1, 6-3. It also was a good day for wild card Joshua Howard-Tripp who beat fellow South African Johannes Myburgh 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the next round.
Fifth seed Francesco Vilardo from Italy was the highest seed to fall when he lost against Britain’s James Marsalek who won 7-6, 2-6 and 6-4 in three hours and five minutes.
Thursday’s second round action starts at 09:30.
