SA STAR BOWS OUT OF US OPEN

ST LOUIS: South Africa’s highest ranked wheelchair tennis women’s ace Kgothatso Montjane fought like a lioness but saw her hopes of reaching her second singles semifinal round at the US Open USTA Wheelchair Championships ended in an exhilarating 7-5, 6-2 defeat by Yui Kamiji, the second seed from Japan.

Former world No 1 Kamiji was made to work hard before finally breaking the resistance of the 32-year-old lefthander from Limpopo, who was serving and volleying beautifully throughout.

The opening set toggled back and forth but Montjane looked to be extending her trend of dominance early on when leading 3-2, but the Japanese broke her for 3-all. The two women traded breaks to 5-5 but Kamiji steadied herself, found her momentum, and overwhelmed the South African en route to a first set lead.

The Japanese player dominated the second set, consistently keeping Montjane off balance with the quality of her serving to eventually win the set and advance to the semi-finals after a 2-hour battle.

World No 6 Montjane may be ranked out of the top 5 but she made the world No 2 Kamiji work for every point in some lengthy and at times spectacular rallies in the opening set.

“My serve worked well, I was swinging the ball so well and hopefully I can continue like this. I gave it my all and I always try hard to keep improving. I know if I want to have chances to win in these big tournaments, I need to serve really well and that’s one thing I am focusing on,” said Montjane.

The last time Montjane defeated Kamiji was in the quarter-finals of the Melbourne Open in 2016 when Montjane staged a master-class to edge out the Japanese 6-3, 6-2 but Kamiji’s latest win extended her headto-head lead to 18-4.