By Anthony Moruthane.
Photo Credit: Heike Janse van Vuuren of South Africa, Photo Credit: TSA.
Tshwane, 08 August 2022 – The Some of the world’s best tennis talents will be in action at the Samaai Junior Open, an ITF Junior Grade A tournament, starting on Tuesday at TuksTennis, University of Pretoria.
Spearheading the junior girls’ singles challenge will be world no. 3 and top seed, Sofia Costoulas who is set to face an American qualifier Martina Marica in the first round.
Behind Costoulas, is French world no. 14 Yaroslava Bartashevich and Hungarian world no. 18 Luca Udvardy seeded second and third, respectively.
Reigning under-18 Africa Junior Championships winner, Heike Janse van Vuuren, will lead the South African charge in the girls’ event. Janse van Vuuren was drawn to meet Zhanel Rustemova from Kazakhstan in the opening round.
The 17-year-old Janse van Vuuren of Riaan Venter Tennis Academy could face last week’s Curro ITF Junior Grade 1 singles champion and current world no. 60 Ella McDonald in the quarterfinal round.
There are six other South Africans in the girls’ main draw. They are Leigh van Zyl (153 world-ranked), Erin McKenzie (408), Lilitha Ndungane (877), Line Greyling (950) who were all awarded wildcards, as well as Kaitlyn Ramduth (929) and 14-year-old Morgan Jordaan (1074) who came through qualifying rounds.
In the boys’ singles, Japanese top seed Rei Sakamoto, last week’s Curro ITF Junior Grade 1 runner-up, will open his campaign against British qualifier Henry Jefferson and is seeded to meet last week’s J1 champion Leanid Boika (seeded no.4) of United States in the semifinals.
World no. 46 Paul Barbier Gazeu of France, seeded second, will face Russian Ruslan Tiukaev in his opener.
South Africa’s leading junior, Devin Badenhorst, is seeded no. 3 and drawn to meet world no. 142 Italian Federico Cina in the first round. Badenhorst looks like South Africa’s best bet for the title.
He is in good form after winning the Curro ITF J2 singles title and reaching quarterfinals of the Curro ITF J1 these past two weeks in Durban.
Behind Badenhorst, there is a promising contingent of South African players which includes Wian Roothman (288 world-ranked), Lwazi Ngwenya (1658) and the 2022 Growthpoint Junior Nationals champion, Connor Thomas Doig (2246) who were awarded wildcards into the tournament.
The ITF Junior Grade A tournaments are one notch below the Junior Grand Slams, the most prestigious events for juniors. There are only six ITF Junior Grade A tournaments every year. Together with the Junior Grand Slams, it is the traditional launchpad for the finest talents to go on to achieve success in the professional game.
The singles main draw starts on Tuesday at the TuksTennis, university of Pretoria in Tshwane and ends on Saturday when the final will be played.
Seeds
Boys:
- SAKAMOTO, Rei (JPN) – 41 world ranking
- BARBIER GAZEU, Paul (FRA) – 46
- BADENHORST, Devin (RSA) – 60
- BOIKA, Leanid (USA) – 63
- RAHMAN, Yannik (USA) – 70
- BATYUTENKO, Max (KAZ) – 75
- PANARIN, Danil (RUS) – 78
- GHIBAUDO, Antoine (FRA) – 86
Girls:
- COSTOULAS, Sofia (BEL) – 3
- BARTASHEVICH, Yaroslava (FRA) – 14
- UDVARDY, Luca (HUN) – 18
- MCDONALD, Ella (GBR) – 60
- EL ALLAMI, Malak (MAR) – 64
- SAGANDIKOVA, Aruzhan (KAZ) – 70
- KENZHIBAYEVA, Sandugash (KAZ) – 92
- JANSE VAN VUUREN, Heike (RSA) – 102.