Sneha Kotecha cruises into final of Under-14 Master tourney
What you need to know:
- Kenya’s Sneha Kotecha on Saturday stormed the final of the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) Under-14 Masters event.
- The home player beat South Africa’s Lara Van Der Merwe 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-1 in a thrilling girls’ semi-final at the Nairobi Public Service Club.
- Sneha will take on another South African, Delien Kleinhans in Sunday’s final as the continental event comes to a close after four days of action. The home player was elated after pulling of a stunning win in a match that lasted close to 90 minutes.
Kenya’s Sneha Kotecha on Saturday stormed the final of the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) Under-14 Masters event.
The home player beat South Africa’s Lara Van Der Merwe 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-1 in a thrilling girls’ semi-final at the Nairobi Public Service Club.
Sneha will take on another South African, Delien Kleinhans in Sunday’s final as the continental event comes to a close after four days of action. The home player was elated after pulling of a stunning win in a match that lasted close to 90 minutes.
“It was cracking encounter, at one point I thought I had lost but my coach and family urged me on and I kept going and put her (Lara) under pressure until she broke,” Sneha told Sunday Nation Sport.
Sneha broke her opponent in the fourth game of the opener after the South African double faulted on the penultimate point to hand the advantage to the Kenyan. The break was consolidated in the very next game for a 3-2 advantage to Sneha.
A game later, the favour would be returned when the home player also dropped her serve to have Van der Merwe lead for the first time.
Parity was restored at 4-4 to set up a grand stand towards the close. Four straight points from Sneha put her in the driver’s seat followed immediately by the most important break of the set to hand the opening set to Kotecha, 6-4.
The second set would go the distance with Van der Merwe holding a 5-3 lead and a game from setting up a deciding set.
Sneha however held her mettle to level at 5-5 with the set ending up in a nail biting tie breaker which went to the girl from down south, 9-7 in the tie break.
In the deciding set, Sneha put the second set’s disappointment aside to win the opening game. Van der Merwe would however only win one game in the set – the second – to give the Kenyan coach Caroline Oduor who was courtside the scare of her life.
Sneha was however solid in the remainder of the set as she raced to a five game winning streak to book her place in the final. Delien Kleinhans beat Burundi’s Aisha Niyonkuru 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 in the other last four clash.
Sneha beat Delien 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 in the preliminary round and will be out to complete a double. In the boys’ final, Christopher Fok Kow of Mauritius will face Elyes Marouani of Tunisia in the final.
