Portuguese Wins Gaborone Tennis Tourney
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Tuesday May 3, 2016 14:30
He said despite the win, he was not at his best in the final. “It was difficult to win. The players were good and the organisation was very good. It was my first time here and hopefully I will come back if more tournaments could be held here,” he said. He said he was impressed with how he served in the final, which he thinks made the difference in his victory.
Bernhard on the other hand said he was nervous in the first set and made some silly errors. “In the second set I tried to get back into the game. I played many shots next to the net to try and apply pressure on him.
The reason was to make him try and hit the winning shot instead of me doing it,” he said. Bernhard however redeemed himself in the Boys Doubles together with his partner, Joshua Howard-Tripp when they defeated Victor Putter and Khololwam Montsi 6-4, 6-4.
In the Girls Singles, Georgina Kaindoah of Tanzania came tops after beating Tanaka Chakanyuka of Zimbabwe 6-3, 6-2 in the final. She also went onto to win the Girls Doubles together with Aisha Niyonkuru of Burundi. They beat Macey Miller and Skyler Miller from the United States. The tournament kicked off on Monday and saw Botswana players all crashing out before the quarterfinal stage.
Despite the disappointment of not reaching the quarterfinals, Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) secretary general, Boikobo Gaolebale said the local players did their best.
“The level of performance has actually gone up. They were up against very good players from countries like South Africa and the USA who play matches every weekend,” he said. He said that will always give them an edge over local players in terms of match practice.