SA’s Davis Cup stars have a big week on circuit

SOUTH AFRICAN tennis has had a good week, with members of the Davis Cup squad finding good form in their individual tournaments around the globe.

Doubles specialist, Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram claimed the title at the ATP 500 event in Delray Beach after a 7-5 7- 5 win against third seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi.

“It seems like I’m just the sideshow here in Delray Beach. I just have to make sure I’m not the reason we’re losing matches!” joked Klaasen.

After a tough start to the season, the South African-Amer- ican pair earned their fourth ATP World Tour doubles title as a team, and they improved their head- to- head against Huey/ Mirnyi to 2-0. “I think Rajeev and I have done some good things to improve our games and this week was another progression for us as a team. People really enjoy their doubles here and that makes it us fun for us,” said Klaasen, who was all smiles as his wife Celeste cheered him on.

Another South African in form was young Lloyd Harris, current SA singles No 2 behind Kevin Anderson, who made finals in a Shimadzu All Japan Indoor Tennis Championships. Fellow Davis Cup player, Nik Scholtz made semi- finals in Egypt at the Futures level.

Dean O’Brien, South African doubles specialist who has reached a career high of 115, continued his campaign and made finals in the ATP Challenger in Morelos, Mexico, with his American partner Kevin King.

In Acapulco this week Klaasen/Ram won in the first round, but were then defeated 6-2 7-5 by big serving American John Isner and his Spanish partner, Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-finals. – Eden D’Oliveira