Montjane, Ramphadi out of Australian Open

South Africa’s wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane has been forced to withdraw from the Australian Open where she had reached the wheelchair singles quarter-finals. Montjane retired at 3-0 down in the first set against second seed Aniek Van Koot after 20 minutes of play on Melbourne on Wednesday.

The team SA star also withdrew from the wheelchair doubles event, handing the Dutch No 1 seeds a walkover into the semi-final.

In the wheelchair quad singles, Paris Paralympics 2024 doubles medallist Donald Ramphadi was beaten in the quarter-finals 6-0, 6-0 by No 3 seed Guy Sasson of Greece.

Earlier, Montjane had reached the quarter-finals, along with Ramphadi.

Another Team SA Paralympian, Mariska Venter, had reached the main draw of the Australian Open as a wildcard but she was beaten in the first round of the women’s wheelchair singles by the fifth-seeded Jiske Griffioen, of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-0.

Montjane booked her place in the quarter-finals by beating British wildcard Lucy Shuker 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. The South African star sent down six aces and 58 winners in total, to her opponent’s 46.