31 January 2007

While the eyes of the tennis world were focused on Melbourne, where the year's first major, the Australian Open, was completed at the weekend, the first South African Open to be held since 1994 was contested at Durban's Westridge Park.

Once an event rated only marginally behind the majors, the South African Airways Open took a gentle step towards re-establishing itself, featuring as part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Series.

With the Australian Open drawing most of the big names in the game, Austria's Stefan Koubek - who began his year with a bang by finishing runner-up in the Chennai Open, where he scored wins over Paradorn Srichipan, Julien Benneteau, and Carlos Moya - was named top seed.

Started strongly
The world number 58 started his challenge strongly, opening with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over former Junior Wimbledon champion Wesley Whitehouse. He followed that with a 6-1, 6-2 pounding of Italian Flavio Cipolla and then accounted for fifth-seed Dick Norman in straight sets to set up a meeting with South African Davis Cup player Rik de Voest in the semi-finals.

De Voest's path to the final four had been anything but smooth. In the first round he squeezed by Jan Mertl 3-6, 6-3, 7-6. Against Philip King, next time out, the match again went to three sets before De Voest triumphed 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.

In the quarterfinals, he faced third-seed Gilles Muller, and again it was a real battle. Again, though, De Voest emerged the winner, this time by a 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 margin.

Semi-final surprise
That victory booked him a place against Koubek in the semi-finals. Checking on the form of the players heading into the final four, the smart money would have been on Koubek. However, he was struggling a little with a cold and De Voest took full advantage of that, racing away to a surprisingly easy 6-4, 6-1 win.

On the other side of the draw, unseeded Mathieu Montcourt had fought his way through to the final with straight sets wins over Izak van der Merwe, eighth-seed Peter Luzak, second-seed Danai Udomchoke, and Slovakian Davis Cup player Michael Mertinak.

The final
So onto the title decider, where it was De Voest who struck first, capturing the first set 7-5. However, in the second set, the South African started struggling with cramps and Montcourt took advantage to level matters by capturing the set 6-3.

In the deciding set, De Voest had huge problems holding his serve. In fact, he lost it four times in succession as Montcourt, who had previously lost twice to De Voest, went on to secure the title with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

There was some consolation afterwards for De Voest who, after recovering from his cramping problem, contested the doubles final. He teamed with Dominik Meffert to defeat Stephane Bohli and Noam Okun 6-4, 6-2 for the title.

Want to use this article in your publication or on your website? See: Using SAinfo material

	2007 SAA Open winner Mathieu Montcourt of France (Photo: Sebastien Grosjean Forum)

	Ashe's Soweto dream revived Tennis: Wayne Ferreira Tennis: Hewitt & McMillan Tennis: Amanda Coetzer

	SA Tennis  ATP Tennis

SA Sport Update Get up to speed with what's happening in South African sport.

SA sports trivia Who's the most economical bowler in cricket history? Who's kicked the most drop-goals in a rugby test? What's the world's biggest open water swimming event? Take a spin through our assortment of SA sports trivia.