Competing at the event for the final time in their promising careers, Guy Vorwerk and Hanmaré McAslin closed their campaigns in spectacular fashion on Tuesday, winning the boys and girls U18 titles at the American Express Junior National Championships hosted by Tennis South Africa at Free State Tennis Stadium in Mangaung.
In the U18 girls final, Cape Town player McAslin clawed her way back from a set down to secure a 3-6 6-3 6-3 victory over Bloemfontein's Donna le Roux.
"I'm very happy with how I came back from one set down and was able to fight my way back into the match," said McAslin, who lived up to expectations as the top seed.
"I was worried after the first set, but I told myself I'm not going to lose this match. This was my last year at nationals, so I gave it my all and it worked. I'm very happy.
"I just want to say thank you to all my coaches and the people supporting me. It's been a great week."
Vorwerk, representing Durban, earned a straight sets 6-3 6-3 win over Potchefstroom's Reuben de Klerk in the title contest.
"This tournament means a lot to me. I've been playing it since I was very young. I started about 10 years ago," Vorwerk said.
"This year's tournament has been run excellently, and fortunately there was no rain, so we were able to play all our matches.
"I started off a bit shaky at the beginning of the week, but I managed to make progress, and today in the final I probably played one of the best matches of my life.
"This was the last nationals I will ever play and I'm glad it ended this way."
Meanwhile, in the finals of other age groups, Jahnie van Zyl (Potchefstroom) beat Morgan Jordaan (Pretoria) 6-3 6-3 in the U16 girls match and Connor Doig (Durban) defeated Jayden Summers (Pretoria) 6-1 6-2 to take the U16 boys crown.
Milan Swanepoel (Cape Town) wrapped up a 6-3 6-0 win over Jesse de Villiers (Pretoria) in the U14 girls division and Jamie Roux (Summerset West) held off a challenge from Nicholas Kruger (Cape Town) to secure a 6-3 6-2 victory in the U14 boys final.
In the U12 category, Lily Haley (Summerset West) dominated the girls final, beating Winnie Masemola (Pretoria) 6-0 6-0, while Tristan Summers (Johannesburg) had to dig deep to defeat Nicolaas van der Walt (Eastern Cape) 6-1 2-6 6-4 for the boys title.
