Zim Ace Scoops ITF Junior Boys' Singles

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Correspondent | Monday August 6, 2007 00:00

 

The Zimbabwean lad won the tie 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the longest match of the tournament. 
The match also produced the longest fought point as both players spent more than 30 minutes each trying to win the last point. The Zimbabwean needed it to clinch the match, while O'Brien, who was serving at this point in time, needed to hold on to the serve, at least to postpone the inevitable.

The result was a game that produced four deuce, as the South African cancelled one Zimbabwean advantage after the other, before Ngaranganga eventually hit the winner with a fast cross court forehand return to the base, leaving his opponent bemused on the other end of the base.

 
The Zimbabwean, who started the tournament ranked the number one seed, made his intentions known in the first two sets, as he powered home six aces past his opponent. His powerful serves won him admiration as fans at Centre Court applauded every time his lightening strokes often went unchallenged. The tie-break set looked like it was going to be a close affair when O'Brien, having hauled himself back into the game by winning the second set, shot ahead. But the Zimbabwean fought from two games down in the decisive set before he stretched his lead to 3-2. Both players broke each other's serve in this set as each fought hard to take control of the game.

 
O'Brien will curse himself for giving away the serve when his opponent was leading 5-3.  He gave away the set in a cruel manner as he looked like he would hold on to his serve, especially that at some point the South African led 40-15. That is when the Zimbabwean showed his class.  As O'Brien played from the net unleashing those crispy short slices, Ngaranganga managed to hit the ball between O'Brien's legs, to reduce the deficit to 40-30. Then the South African double-faulted, to make it deuce before he finally broke O'Brien's resistance in this game that lasted 30 minutes.

 
Defeat aside, both finalists treated tennis spectators to some exciting display with their mature execution of technique and high alertness on the court.  However, both youngsters will have to cut on the number of unforced errors. On several occasions they were both guilty of this crime as they wasted unnecessarily.  In the girls' singles, it was a South African affair as Bianca Swanepoel and Channel Simonds fought in the finals, which Simonds eventually won.

The ITF Junior Circuit this week moves to Namibia and Botswana will be sending four boys and four girls with the hope that they will improve on their last disappointing performance on home soil. The ITF event is a ranking tournament for aspiring tennis professionals who need to accumulate points to move up the rankings and eventually play in the higher paying events.The Botswana leg saw entries from as far afield as United Kingdom (UK) and Slovakia.