South Africa’s lone representative in the French Open Wheelchair Tennis Grand Slam tournament, Kgothatso Montjane, was knocked out of the women’s singles quarter-final round after a three-set battle to three-time runner-up Aniek Van Koot from the Netherlands at Roland-Garros on Thursday.
World No 8 Montjane lost 1-6, 6-3, 1-6 in nearly two hours but not before giving a tough fight to the Dutch Van Koot, making her go the distance on court No 9.
Van Koot took off well and dominated the start, clinching the first set in 38 minutes, but refusing to give up, the Limpopo-born star came back strongly, firing on all cylinders to back herself out of a corner in the second set which juggled back and forth.
Montjane was 3-2 down but staged a dramatic fightback and found her legs to seal the second set 6-3 to push the match into the decider.
For a while, after the two women split sets, it looked as though the vibrant challenge from Montjane would avenge her 2014 loss to Van Koot, but the world No 3 came back from the brink to keep her quest for a first French Open title alive by dominating the deciding set.
The 32-year-old Montjane had reached the semi-final at Roland-Garros in 2013 after edging out former world No 2 Sharon Walraven, also from the Netherlands, in the quarter-finals but had not been able to get past Van Koot.
In the third set, the advantages swung back and forth, but Van Koot dominated the set when Montjane ran out of steam to lose the match.
‘Kgothatso played very well and fought hard to get back in the match by winning the second set,’ said coach Gerald Stoffberg. ‘She had numerous opportunities in the third set but failed to convert them. I do believe it is a step in the right direction and hope that she will believe that she actually belongs amongst the top players in the world!’
Photo: Montjane in action, by Reg Caldecott