Local tennis stars make waves in Cape Super 8
Milan van Heerden and Murunwa Nemavhidi achieved outstanding results in the past month at their most recent Tennis South Africa (TSA) tournaments.
Murunwa is in Grade Six this year at Laerskool Nelspruit, and Milan is in Grade Eight at Hoërskool Nelspruit.
Both players started their December holiday tournament campaign at the Cape Town Super 8.
Murunwa finished 19th in the girls U12 singles draw from a field of 30 players.
Milan finished 14th out of the 52 players in the girls U14 draw. She also teamed up with Tampere Stewart in the doubles draw, where they narrowly lost to numbertwo seeds, Lyndsey Phillips and Charlotte Bouwer, 6-4, 7-6.
Both players were ready for big things in the following tournament, which was the Winelands Super 8, hosted in Cape Town.
Murunwa lost 6-3, 7-5 to Carli Erasmus in the second round, poising her to aim for 17th place out of a field of 38 players. She proceeded to win all four of her next matches, and her biggest win of the tour was a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over number-four seed, Kara Taute. Murunwa then partnered with Mahlako Legare and they lost in the second round to eventual champions, Chelsea Fryer and Gabriella Coetzee.
Milan found herself up against numberthree seed, Nikilitha Ndungane, where she took charge immediately and won 6-2, 6-0.
In the quarter-finals, Milan suffered a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to number-seven seed, Lea Dube, but proceeded to record two excellent wins in the following two rounds. Milan beat number-eight seed, Morakane Molaoa, 7-6, 6-3, and number-five seed, Diana Hendrik, 6-3, 6-2, to eventually finish fifth out of a field of 56 players.
In the new year, Murunwa played two more TSA tournaments, both in Pretoria. In the first, the Tennis South Africa Super 8, she lost to number-three seeded Giana Smith, 6-1, 6-3, before eventually finishing 7th out of 43 players. She then teamed up with Kamogelo Mponwana in the doubles draw, where they narrowly lost in the finals to number-one seeded Lily Haley and Sienna Wakefield. In her second tournament of the new year, the Gauteng North Wilson Mini 1, Murunwa made it all the way to the final, before losing to Giana Smith once again, this time 6-1, 6-4.