South Africa's top junior player, Devin Badenhorst, beat Antoine Ghibaudo from France to win the Curro ITF Junior Grade 2 tournament, securing his first ITF Grade 2 singles title at Curro Hillcrest in Durban on Saturday.
The third-seeded Badenhorst rounded off an impressive week by edging out fourth seed Ghibaudo 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 in front of his home crowd.
“I feel pretty proud of myself for winning today,” said 18-year-old Badenhorst, who represents the JL Tennis Academy.
“I have been working hard on my net game and it has been improving – and that’s the way I want to play.
“This is a very special victory for me on home soil, and I feel very confident going into next week for the Grade 1 tournament."
The first set was a ding-dong affair but Badenhorst's enterprise at the end saw him wrap the set 7-6(4) in a tiebreak.
The Frenchman fought back to win the second set 6-4 but Badenhorst found his momentum in the third set to brush the Frenchman aside 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3.
Meanwhile, in the girls’ event, there was no stopping Malak El Allami of Morocco in Hillcrest.
The 16-year-old teen, who reigned supreme all week without dropping a set, defeated Darja Suvirdjonkova 6-3, 6-3 in the final to clinch her first Junior Grade 2 title.
The players will now shift their focus to the ITF Junior Grade 1 event at the same venue, which runs from 31 July to 06 August 2022.
The Grade 1 competition will be the first-ever ITF Grade 1 event to be held in South Africa.
The competitions are made possible with the support of Curro Holdings.