South African junior phenomenon Kholo Montsi missed out on his first Grand Slam round of 16 spot after losing his second-round encounter against unseeded Felix Gill of Britain on Tuesday at the Roland Garros Junior Championships in Paris.
The 17-year-old Montsi went down 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 to the Brit world number 38 but not without a fight.
“Yeah, it was a tough match against an aggressive player, so I just had to fight. Obviously, I didn't have enough time on the clay like the other guys but I came here to compete and that's what I did so it's been a good time on the clay,” said Montsi.
When asked how he felt after his match, Montsi said, “I feel perfectly fine, because I wouldn't say I lost today, I'd say I learned from it...losing is part of the sport and I think if you can't accept that then you should stop.”
Murray Ingram, Montsi’s Fitness Coach, said the South African rising star showed all his undoubted quality but missed opportunities to convert break points, “I am very proud of him after today's performance. His comeback in the second set showed real character. Unfortunately, he missed a couple of chances to convert break points which ultimately cost him.”
Murray, who is with Montsi in Paris, added that Montsi’s lack of clay preparation was a contributing factor, “His lack of clay court preparation was also a factor. The European based competitors have had several warm-up tournaments to prepare.”
The 11th-seeded Montsi later on joined forces with his close friend Eliakim Coulibaly from Ivory Coast in the first round of the doubles competition. The South African-Ivorian duo, seeded 5th, went down fighting to French pair of Terence Atmane and Leonardo Malgaroli 6-1, 7-6(3).
Now that the young prodigy Montsi, has been knocked out the tournament, it has been left to wheelchair tennis ace and former US Open doubles finalist Kgothatso Montjane to keep the flag flying at Roland Garros.
Montjane, ranked 7th globally, will open her campaign against Japanese world number 10 when the wheelchair tennis event gets underway on Wednesday in Paris.
Montjane will be looking to extend her perfect 2-0 Head2Head series lead against the Japanese. Their two previous meetings were on clay court and hard court at the German Open and British Open respectively, with Montjane triumphing in all of them without much challenge.
- Tennis South Africa