Top seeds through to Potch semis
The top seeded players Rik De Voest and Chanel Simmonds both of South Africa won through to the semifinal of the TSA NWU PUKKE Futures in Potchefstroom on Thursday.
Women's top seed Chanel Simmonds remained on her victory path with a 6-2 6-3 quarterfinal win over Estelle Cascino seeded seven from France.
"I must admit, Estelle gave me a tough match despite the score-line, but I'm glad I was able to come through and win. I look forward to playing Zarah Razafimahatrata in the semifinals," said Simmonds following her victory.
Razafimatrata of Madagascar, the fifth seed, ended the fine run of Serbian Vanja Klaric winning 6-1 6-0.
Cape Town's Lynn Kiro upset Lea Tholey, seeded six of France 6-0 6-3.
The South African junior will now face third seeded Keren Shlomo of Israel in Friday's semifinal. Shlomo beat fellow Israeli Lee Or 6-0 6-3.
In the men's singles, top-seeded Rik de Voest overcame his fellow countryman Jean Andersen 6-4 6-2. De Voest said that he was very happy with the result and how he played.
"Despite my win there are a couple of things that I need to look into going forward into the tournament" said De Voest.
"But Iam pleased to be in the semis and hopefully I will be able to make it into the finals on Saturday."
De Voest will meet fifth seeded Elie Rousset of France in Friday's semifinals. Rousset booked his place against the top seed when he caused a minor upset eliminating the third seed Takanyi Garanganga from Zimbabwe 6-4 6-1.
Seventh seed Simon Cauvard of France upset fourth seeded South African Ruan Roelofse in the last quarterfinal of the day.
Cauvard beat the South African Davis Cup player 6-3 6-4 to meet tournament "dark horse" Nikala Scholtz in the semifinals. Scholtz, who plays NCAA University tennis for Mississippi in the US, beat Austrian Lukas Weinhandl 6-4 7-6(2) in the last eight.
