South Africa’s highest-ranked wheelchair tennis women’s ace, Kgothatso Montjane, secured her place in the last eight of the US Open USTA Wheelchair Tennis Championships, with a comfortable straight sets victory over France’s Charlotte Famin in St. Louis, USA on Wednesday.
Montjane glided into the quarter-final round on a rainy day at the last Super Series event on the 2018 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
Fifth-seeded Montjane, who has been in sizzling form since reaching the Wimbledon semi-final last month, wasted no time in making her presence felt as she dashed past 15th-ranked Famin 6-0, 6-1 to set up a quarter-final blockbuster against Japanese world No 2 Yui Kamiji.
The sixth-ranked Montjane said that it was arguably her best victory against Famin since their first ever match at the 2014 Airports Company South Africa Gauteng Open in Johannesburg.
‘I feel good,’ commented Montjane. ‘This was a good match, I played my best tennis and played Charlotte a lot better than before when we previously met at the Toyota Open earlier this year in France. This is arguably the best result against her since we first met.
‘Taking every match extremely seriously always helps as you prepare yourself well enough for any opponent and that’s what helped me today,’ added Montjane.
Montjane had beaten the former world No 9 Frenchwoman in straight sets in their two previous meetings, eliminating her from the 2018 Toyota Open in France and the 2017 Swiss Open in Geneva.
The left-hander from Seshego, Limpopo admitted that it’s going to be tough facing Kamiji in Thursday’s quarter-final but looks forward to their match.
‘It’s going to be a challenging one against Kamiji, but I’m ready to get back on the court. I just need some rest now and then go out and give it everything I’ve got,’ said Montjane.
Japanese former world No 1 Kamiji has won their last nine meetings. The last time Montjane defeated her was at the Melbourne Open in Australia two years ago.
Photo: Montjane, by Anna Vasalaki