Both Team SA’s wheelchair tennis players easily won their matches to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s singles competition at the African Para Games in Accra, Ghana, on Wednesday.
Alwand Sikhosana is favourite to go all the way and win the men’s singles, and he showed the form that will make him hard to beat this week.
The 23-year-old South African is ranked No40 in the world and was in great touch from the moment the match started against Tunisia’s Albert Chui.
This was the second time these players had faced each other, with the first encounter between the pair being back in December 2015 in Johannesburg. There, as teenagers, Sikhosana prevailed 6-0 6-0 and there was no difference nearly eight years later with the South African winning by the same 6-0 6-0 scoreline.
In the other game, Leon Els was also dominant, beating Daniel Laryea 6-0 6-0. The 35-year-old Els was more experienced than his 45-year-old opponent from Ghana, with a win-loss career record of 202-129 as opposed to the home favourite’s 2-8 record. Els was far too accurate and composed as he won the first set 6-1 before taking the second set 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals.
Sikhosana next faces Nigeria’s Teriumun Ukari for a place in the semi-final and the South African will be confident of his chances against a player ranked 236th in the world.
Similarly Els, who also comes up against an opponent lower than him in the rankings, in this case another Nigerian, Alex Adelwale, who is No274. Els is 83rd.