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Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S Sasha Chimedza and her partner Arina Valitova won the girls doubles in the Cranrid International Tennis Federation World Junior Tour yesterday.
They beat Heike Janse Van Vuuren and Leigh Van Zyl at Harare Sports Club. Chimedza and Valitova, of Saint Kitts and Nevis, were seeded second and won 6-3, 6-2 against the top seeds from South Africa. For Chimedza, this was her second title from the three tournaments which have been running at Harare Sports Club, in the last three weeks, having won the singles title, in the first event.
She also reached the doubles finals that same week when she teamed up with Tadiwanashe Mauchi.
However, they lost the match.
But, yesterday, was a different day and together with Valitova, they walked away with the doubles title. In the girls singles, Chimedza, who was seeded sixth, lost in the quarter-finals on Thursday, to top seed Meshkatolzahra Safi.
Tanyaradzwa Midzi also lost in the quarter-finals.
Those were the two best performances in the singles matches by local players as the boys failed to reach the last eight.
The boys doubles title went to the pair of Itay Bity of Israel and Federico Cina from Italy after South Africa’s pair of Anro Nel and Andreas Scott retired.
Bity and Cina had taken the first set 6-4.
The tournament ends today with the singles finals.
The boys singles will see Aayush Bhat of the United States taking on William Jansen of Great Britain and Tamara Kostic of Austria is up against South Africa’s Heike Janse Van Vuuren in the girls singles. Midzi and Chimedza are part of the eight-member team expected to take part in the upcoming Africa Junior Championships 18-and-Under from November 21 to 29 in Tunisia.
The other team members are Rufaro Magarira, Tadiwanashe Mauchi, Ethan Sibanda, Lyle Zaloumis, Benedict Badza and Takura Mhwandagara. Most of them participated in these three events and, despite failing to reach the finals, it gave them the needed competition ahead of the continental championships.
Tennis Zimbabwe manager, Cliff Nhokwara, said team selection for the AJC was based on the International Tennis Federation rankings.
And, they are hoping for the best, taking into account that their players have favourable rankings, compared with their counterparts, from other countries.
“It’s a team event. We have four girls and four boys who also qualify as a result of the ITF 18s ranking, which is then compared against other African players.
“So, it’s pretty much the top ranked four boys and girls in Zimbabwe. The bottom line is they have a decent ranking which is quite favourable looking at the other rankings from other African countries,” said Nhokwara.
Online Reporter