Kgothatso Montjane's Wimbledon doubles bid folds but singles title still in her sights

Kgothatso Montjane will make a second bid for glory Wimbledon glory in Sunday's women's wheelchair final. Picture: Tennis South Africa

Kgothatso Montjane will make a second bid for glory Wimbledon glory in Sunday's women's wheelchair final. Picture: Tennis South Africa

Published Jul 10, 2021

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CAPE TOWN - South Africa's Kgothatso Montjane first bid for Wimbledon glory failed on Saturday evening when she and Brit partner Lucy Shuker suffered a straight-sets 6-0 7-6 (7-0) defeat in the final of the women's wheelchair doubles.

They were beaten by the second-seeded Briton Jordanne Whiley and Japanese partner Yui Kamiji who lifted the Wimbledon women's wheelchair doubles for the fifth time as a pair. For Kamiji it was the sixth Wimbledon after she lifted the title with a different partner.

ALSO READ: Kgothatso Montjane has first shot at Wimbledon glory in doubles final

Whiley and Kamiji schooled their opponents in wheelchair doubles play as they raced to a 6-0 first set score in only 19 minutes.

It was a different story in the early second-sets games as Montjane and Shuker managed two breaks of serve for a 3-1 lead. By this time, they showed signs of a full recovery after their opening set hammering, and they were poised to take the second set when they raced ahead 5-3.

Suddenly the pair lost their grip on the match, and the experienced Whiley and Kamiji fought back gallantly for a 6-all scoreline, and force the tiebreak.

It was one-way traffic in the tiebreak as Whiley and Kamiji handed their opponents a 7-0 bagel and close out the win in 83 minutes.

Montjane will make a second bid for glory Wimbledon glory in Sunday's women's wheelchair final.

ALSO READ: Kgothatso Montjane edges Japan’s Momoko Ohtani to reach maiden Wimbledon final

The wild card Montjane (World No 5) will go up against the top seed and world No 1 Diede de Groot of the Netherlands. De Groot has a fistful of 10 Grand Slam titles. These include Wimbledon 2018 and 2017 when he made her debut at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

De Groot has not dropped a set en route to the final, whereas Montjane played three sets in each of her earlier victories.

On Friday, Montjane survived a marathon 145-minute ordeal against Ohtani, the Roland Garros runner-up last year.

@Herman_Gibbs

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