Namibia: Matthysen, Vaissaud Win ITF Junior Titles

LEO Matthysen of South Africa and Dune Vaissaud of France walked away with the top awards after winning the singles titles at the International Tennis Federation's J4 junior tournament in Windhoek on Saturday.

In the boys singles final, the top-seeded Matthysen beat his compatriot Johannes van Wijk in straight sets to win the title.

Mixing up his game with powerful serves and groundstrokes from the back of the court with some delicate volleys and drop shots at the net, Matthysen took control from the start. He soon broke Van Wijk's service to win the first set 6-2.

Van Wijk provided stronger resistance in the second but Matthysen wore him down with his consistency and after some great rallies, broke Van Wijk's serve to go 3-2 up.

From there on, Van Wijk had no answer as Mathyssen pulled away to win the set 6-2, and the match.

In the girls final, the third-seeded Vaissaud beat the seventh-seeded Celina Joseph of South Africa in straight sets.

Joseph initially provided a strong challenge, matching Vaissaud fopr most of the first set, but the French girl got the breakthrough when she broke Joseph's serve in the ninth game to go 5-4 up, before holding her own serve to take the first set 6-4.

Joseph's resistance crumbled in the second set as Vaissaud streaked into a 3-0 lead, before taking the set 6-1 to complete a comfortable victory.

That was her second victory at the tournament after she also won the girls doubles title with Tayla Wilmot of South Africa on Friday, when their opponents, Sasha Chimedza of Zimbabwe and Sophia Fuller of SA withdrew due to an injury to the former.

On Friday Matthysen also won the doubles title with his partner Benedict Badza of Zimbabwe after they beat Hayden Loffler of Swaziland and Jovan Lubbe of SA 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final.

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