His 7-5 6-3 victory in Saturday’s final of the SAA National Championships at the Wanderers Tennis Club has earned Izak Van der Merwe a wild card into the South Africa Open to be played at Westridge Park in Durban from 22 January. Top seed Van der Merwe defeated second seed Pieter Calitz to capture the men’s title while number one Lizaan du Plessis took the women’s event when Bronwyn Davidson had to retire in the third set. Du Plessis was leading 0-6 6-3 4-1 when Davidson could no longer continue due to a persistent groin injury.
Van der Merwe was delighted to win a spot in the main draw of the SA Open, a wild card well earned according to SA Tennis Association chief executive Ian Smith, for making the journey all the way fro the US to play in this event.
“I was playing a lot of tournaments there but when I was told about the SA National Championships, I changed my flight to come back here a little earlier so I could play in it,” explained the 22-year-old Van der Merwe. “I was a nice surprise and it will give me an opportunity to take on some really good players. I’m going to take some time off now but then I’m going to train hard so hopefully I will be in good form by then.”
Van der Merwe has spent four years in the US completing a business finance degree at Old Dominion College in Norfolk, Virginia. He had lost to Calitz in their only meeting last year but now felt he had garnered more experience on the tour. There were a plethora of breaks in both sets as Van der Merwe continued to struggle with his serve at altitude, a problem that had been plaguing him all week. “The key was that I returned well and that helped me win this match,” said the top seed.
He finally got a 6-5 lead in the opening set and then broke Calitz to take the set. Once again the pair exchanged a number of breaks but at 5-3, Van der Merwe had the opportunity to serve for the match. He found himself facing two break points at 15-40 but then his booming serve kicked into gear and a helpless Calitz could not withstand the barrage that followed.
In the women’s final Du Plessis said she felt it was a case of deja vu when she lost the opening set 6-0 because at last week’s Senior Interprovincial she lost to Davidson without winning one game. “I had taken a three-month break before that and me game is not yet fine tuned. I was giving her too many free points so in the second set I decided to just roll the ball in and get some rhythm.”
The tactic worked and the top seed slowly began to work herself back and levelled the match. By the third set though Davidson’s injury, which had started last week at interpro and got worse from Tuesday this week, began to flare up badly and eventually she had no option but to withdraw. She has been instructed to stay off the court for the next two weeks at least to recuperate. “I would have liked to win the tournament but with the groin injury, I’m just so happy to have made it to the final,” said the 16-year-old Davidson
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