Montjane, Sithole through to finals

SOUTH African wheelchair tennis aces Kgothatso Montjane and Lucas Sithole made swift progress as they advanced to the final round untroubled in the third day session of the Melbourne Open, an International Tennis Federation (ITF) level 2 event which forms part of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour. Seventh seeded Montjane secured a spot in today’s women singles final after Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock retired at 6-6 (4-2) due to a shoulder/neck pain. The greatest rivalry in women’s tennis will take to the court again when Montjane and world No 6 Marjolein Buis do battle Buis defeated unseeded Zhenzhen Zhu of China 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in the semi-final. Montjane and doubles partner Louise Hunt, seeded No 2 in the women’s doubles booked a spot in the final after they knocked out third seeds Charlotte Famin and Emmanuelle Morch both from France 6-4 ,6-3. The pair will go against Chinese duo of Hui Min Huang and Zhenzhen Zhu in today’s final. In the quads tournament, former US Open champion Sithole eased passed Antony Cotterill in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the final. In the final, the world No 3 will meet third seed Andy Lapthorne who caused another upset when he toppled top seed and world No 1 Dylan Alcott 7-6 (7/4), 6-3. Sithole and Lapthorne have met 19 times in their careers, starting in 2012 at the British Open with world No 4 Lapthorne leading 10-9. Sithole and doubles partner Heath Davidson will face British pair Antony Cotterill and Andy Lapthorne tomorrow for the doubles title.