ZIMBABWE junior tennis stars Kudzai and Kuzivaishe Chapepa are making waves in South Africa where they stormed into the Tennis South Africa Growth Point Super 8 Tournament in Benoni on Monday.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
The elder sister Kudzai (12), playing in the Under-14 age group upstaged Saffron Heroldt 6-1, 6-2 in the round of 16 to progress to the quarter-finals.
Her younger sister Kuzivaishe (9) is featuring in the Under-12 girls category and beat the sixth seed in the tournament Ava Contomathios 7-6 (3), 7-5.
Their coach Thesly Mufunda of Gap Sports based at Bulawayo Athletic Club in Bulawayo is excited about the girls’ performance.
“The girls have played tremendously well. It wasn’t my expectation because they moved an age group higher. I didn’t expect them to get that far. Of course I expected them to do well because we have been working hard for it. The results are surprising if you look at the way they are quickly dispatching their opponents. The girls are psyched up and think they can go all the way. It looks promising for the girls and hopefully they can bring it home. Also looking AT that we last had a tournament in 2019,” Mufunda said.
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Mufunda is also pleased for 10-year-old Tanaka Mhlanga who lost 6-2, 7-5 to Cara Fine in the round of 16 of the Under-12s.
It’s Mhlanga’s second tournament in South Africa.
Mhlanga is also a product of Mufunda’s tennis academy.
The Chapepas were due to play the quarter-finals yesterday with Kudzai taking on fourth seeded Allegra van Der Walt while Kuzivaishe was supposed to play Fine.