Top seeds Dewald van Niekerk and Hayley Ward comfortably secured their spots in the semifinals on the opening day of the Growthpoint SA Nationals squash championships in Cape Town on Thursday.
Eastern Province's Ward had to keep her concentration in the third game against a competitive Helena Hudson (Northerns) but came through 11-4 11-5 11-8.
She will face Teagan Russell of Joburg Squash in the last four.
Gqeberha-born Van Niekerk, aiming for a record fifth title in a row, saw off the challenge of SA Country Districts colleague Luke van Vuuren 11-2 11-2 11-5 to set up a clash on Friday with rising Northerns star, the 19-year-old Luhann Groenewald.
The match of the day in the U15 division was undoubtedly the boys’ showdown between Western Province fourth seed Milton Posthumus and No 5 Ashton Burger of Eastern Province.
In a roller-coaster of a clash, neither player managed to take complete control, though there was plenty of spirit as they each threatened fightbacks during an epic battle.
First it was Posthumus who came close to pulling off the win when, leading 2-1, he shrugged off four game points at 10-5 down in the fourth to draw within a few points of victory at 10-9 before his Graeme College opponent made it 2-2 by taking the next point.
It seemed, however, that it would not matter for Posthumus because he quickly established control in the deciding fifth game and stood on the verge of victory at 10-4 up.
That’s when Burger decided he was not ready to give up.
In sensational fashion, he stayed in the rallies, pulling off some winning shots and keeping his opponent under pressure to reel off the next eight points for an incredible recovery and a 3-2 victory.
“I just decided that I wasn’t going to give in and I just concentrated on winning the next point,” Burger said afterwards.
“It was a matter of not looking too far ahead and just keeping my concentration.”
The victory earned Burger a spot in the top four, along with another EP player in Grey High’s Liam Fehrsen, the top seed in the boys’ U15 section.
He got his tournament off to a flying start when he outgunned promising Free State player George Hung in three games.
Hung is a natural talent but is only 12 years old, and it was tough for him to handle the control and pace Fehrsen was able to apply to his game.
The EP player did not make the mistake of taking his younger opponent lightly and built comfortable leads in each game to win 11-4 11-3 11-3.
Afterwards he said enjoyed the experience of playing on the all-glass court, placed in Makers Landing at the the Cruise Terminal.
“I’m very happy to get the win and I just concentrated on getting the ball to a length,” he said.
“It’s my first time playing on an all-glass court and I think it worked quite well for me.”
Collegiate player Faatima Packery had a tough opening game against Free State’s Jasmaine Rust, going down 3-0.
The Herald
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