Unseeded Du Toit beats blisters to win

Daniel du Toit and Maretha Burger emerged as the men’s and women’s singles champions when the Growthpoint EP Super 8 tournament came to a conclusion at the PE Lawn Tennis Club on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Du Toit, from Somerset West, was unseeded in the men’s singles, but he has competed professionally on the international Futures circuit. He did not have enough local ranking points to be included among the seeds.

He soon showed his ability by racing through the first set 6-1 against top seed Chrisjan van Wyk of Gauteng North.

When he broke service in the first game of the second set, it looked as if it would follow a similar pattern.

But Van Wyk dug in with great determination to ensure there was no easy route to the title. However, he just could not get the break back and Du Toit, serving for the match at 5-4 and 40-0, finished it off in style as he ripped a backhand winner to seal the title.

“I almost didn’t play in the final. I had such bad blisters on my feet,” Du Toit said.

“But I’m glad I went out there and it’s awesome to end up with the title.”

The women’s final was an all-Boland affair, with Burger, seeded two, forced to fight back from a disastrous first set to overcome the top-seeded Rochelle Pienaar 1-6 6-3 6-1.

Constantly mixing up the pace of her shots, which included a strong defensive strategy, she gradually took control of the match.

Pienaar, whose powerful groundstrokes gave her the edge early in the contest, could do little right in the end as Burger’s relentless retrieving and accurate strokeplay kept her under constant pressure.

This was revealed in a microcosm of the match when, in the third game of the final set, Burger trailed 0-40 on her serve. But she fought off those three breakpoints and went 3-0 ahead, a lead Pienaar was not able to overcome.

Eastern Province’s Hlumani Kekana was runner-up in the under-10 boys’ singles, losing in the final to Western Cooper of Eden.