Africa-Press – Namibia. GEORGE Louw beat his old rival Daniel Jauss in the boys u18 singles final of the Trustco Junior Masters in Windhoek over the weekend.
With both players producing fast serves and powerful ground strokes, there was not much to choose between the two, and Louw went on to clinch the title after a close 6-4, 7-5 victory.
The tournament was a huge success as nearly all of Namibia’s top junior players were in action. Some matches were live-streamed on Facebook and this added to make the tournament more special to all involved.
The Trustco Junior Masters took place in a windy Windhoek with the top eight players in each age group, who did best at national tournaments throughout the year invited to participate.
The matches started on Friday afternoon with group stage matches on a round robin format, with two boxes per age group. Each player had to play three group stage matches. The top 2 players per group then proceeded to play cross-over semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the finals.
Friday night saw an opening ceremony where players were acknowledged with participation certificates as well as branded t-shirts and goodie-bags sponsored by Trustco.
The players as well as their parents were then treated to light snacks as the Namibia Tennis Association and Trustco wished the players well for the rest of the weekend’s competition.
With first-seeded Ruben Yssel in the boys u14 division withdrawing due to an injury, the field was wide open for the other seeded players. In a nail-biting final, third-seeded Ruan Calitz beat Eduan Schollij with only two points to spare, with a score of 6-4, 2-6, 10-8.
In the boys u16 category, Joel Hiveluah surprised the first seeded Stephan Koen with a 6-1, 6-2 victory to progress to the final, where he was beaten 6-0, 6-0 by Sarel Janse van Rensburg.
Juan Kuhn, who was unseeded for the tournament, beat Stephan Koen to win the bronze medal. The girls u16 category held little surprise as Elze Stears won the gold medal after beating Larushka Kruger 6-2, 6-1 in the final.
The girls u14 category was dominated by Santie van der Walt who comfortably proceeded to the finals where she beat Leandre Louw 6-2, 6-1 to win the gold medal, with Hayley Kidd finishing third.
The Trustco Junior Masters concluded the national junior tournaments for the year. Namibian players in three age groups – u12, u16 and u18 have been invited to participate at the African Junior Championships in Tunisia at the end of November.
The Namibia Tennis Association thanked Trustco for their continued support, enthusiasm and dedication to grow the sport on all levels, from development right through to the top players.
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