South Africa’s quad wheelchair tennis team won silver medal at the 2022 BNP Paribas World Team Cup after losing to top seeds Netherlands 2-0 in the Quad World Group final in Vilamoura, Portugal at the weekend.
Former and current world No. 2 players Lucas Sithole and Sam Schroder met in the opening singles match, Schroder earning the first service hold to open a 4-2 lead, which soon became 6-2 as Sithole overhit a forehand return on set point.
A Sithole double fault handed Schroder a 3-0 second set lead and after missing his mark with a forehand to end the first set, the former US Open champion overhit a backhand to give Schroder his 6-2 6-0 victory.
The second singles contest was a much more competitive affair – at least for the first set, which lasted an hour and 27 minutes, with Dutch world No. 1 Niels Vink and South Africa’s No.1 Donald Ramphadi trading service breaks and service holds throughout.
At 5-4 up, Vink earned his first set point and he had another at 6-5, which was expertly saved by Ramphadi before the South African world No. 7 forced the tie-break.
However, Vink would not be denied in what was by far his toughest assignment of the week, and his patience was rewarded when he slotted a forehand down the line past Ramphadi to wrap up the opening set.
Vink broke to love for a 2-1 second set lead, by which time Ramphadi’s resilience seemed to be waning, and so it proved. Despite saving two match points Ramphadi ended a commendable effort on a double fault, Vink taking the victory 7-6(4) 6-1 to give Netherlands their third BNP Paribas World Team Cup quad title.
With South Africa’s quads having become the first African team to reach a World Team Cup final and ending with the silver medal, the team were awarded the team of the year award at the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis team event.
The women’s team of Kgothatso Montjane and Nokwanda Hlonganwe finished in 12th position, with the men’s squad of Alwande Sikhosana, Evans Maripa and Mpho Mhlongo finishing in 10th place.
The BNP Paribas World Team Cup is the wheelchair tennis equivalent of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. Players compete for their country to become world team champions across four divisions – men’s, women’s, quads and juniors.
