South African wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane celebrated her birthday in style when she won through to the quarter-finals of the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Tuesday.
The three-time semi-finalist on the famous red clay beat Macarena Cabrillana of Chile 6-3 6-3 to set up a contest against No4 seed Ziying Wang of China in the quarters.
Montjane, who turned 39 on the day, is a five-time Team SA Paralympian and was last at Roland Garros at Paris 2024, where she had to withdrew due to personal issues. She reached the semi-final at the French Open in 2013, 2021 and 2022.
The left-handed South African dominated the stats, with two aces and 61 percent of her winning points coming off her first serve, with the final point coming after a match lasting 1hr 37min.
Montjane is one of two Team SA Paralympians in the French Open, the other being Donald Ramphadi.
STILL TO COME
Women’s wheelchair doubles, quarter-finals: Kgothatso Montjane and Yui Kamiji (Japan) vs Ksenia Chasteau (Fra) and Diede De Groot (Neth)
Quad wheelchair singles quarter-finals: Donald Ramphadi vs No2 seed Sam Schroder (Neth)
Quad wheelchair doubles semi-finals: Donald Ramphadi and Ahmet Kaplan (Tur)