Hammanskraal Tennis Club came out victorious at their tournament on the 26 – 28 March 2021 at Soweto, Auther Ashe Tennis Stadium.
Mr Simon Tlhatlha, the Chairperson of Hammanskraal Tennis Club said Tshepang Maisela competed in the boys under 14, Platinum section. He went into the tournament as an unseeded player. He illuminated Soweto’s favorite Onalenna Maphalle in the first round 6-3:6-3. He went on to defeat seed 4 Connor Armstrong 4-6 :6-3: 10-8 in the quarter-finals.
“He then illuminated seed 1 Ruan Keyter 2-6:6-1:10 – 4 in the semi-finals. The biggest win, the first of many big wins to come of his tennis career” he said.
Mr Tlhatlha said the final was set with seed 4 Neil Erasmus, a rematch of Gauteng North Seniors /Juniors Tournament position 3/4 which Tshepang Maisela won. He went into the finals with an upper hand but unfortunately ended up as a runner-up after losing 7-6:6-2.
Tshepang came very close to winning the first set after having had an opportunity to serve for the set at 6-5.
“I’m very happy with Tshepang’s performance. It’s a morale booster to him and his teammates. We take the positive out of the performance and will build on it” he said.
Tshepiso Mooka completed in boys under 14 Gold section, he never disappoints. Defeated Sanele Mogaki 6-0:6-0 on his route to the finals.
Mr Tlhatlha said he was very unfortunate not to play in the finals due to inclined weather, missing out on his first opportunity to play in the finals.
Kutlwano Mphahlele finished position 5 after inflicting further injuries on Sanele Mogaki by defeating him 6-2;6-1.
Mpho Jantjies has a wonderful run finishing position 5. He defeated Soweto’s favorite under 16 Tlhalefang Mosenogi 6-3:6-4.
Lucas Chauke, boys under 14, finished position 8, he eliminated Emmanuel Nyambuya in the first round 7 -6, 6-4, what a good run from Lucas.
“Our players did extremely well during this tournament, we as a club are very happy about their performance,” he said.
Mr Tlhatlha said on the other hand they had players playing for GN Juniors against Gauteng West and North West.”Six of our players were part of the GN team 5 were playing at Klerksdorp and 1 at Groenkloof.
The following players helped the province to win all 2 ties against NW and GW.
Under 16 team
1. Ofentse Mphahlele winning 5 out of 6 matches
2. Eric Matjiane winning 5 out of 6 matches
3. Mpho Phungwayo winning 5 out of 6 matches
4. Tshepang Tlhatlha winning 5 out of 6 matches
Under 19 team
1. Tshepang Chaane didn’t disappoint at all, he won all 6 matches of the day.
Under 14 team
1. Mogomotsi Sekgobela represented the team very well, she won 4 out of 6 matches, “she played an outstanding game, we saw a lot of improvement in her game.
“It was a busy weekend for the club but we managed to pull it off. We are now getting back to our drawing board and getting ready for our next tournament” he said.
