South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane was defeated by France’s Ksenia Chasteau in her Round 1 women’s wheelchair singles match on Court 8 at the US Open on Wednesday.
Chasteau won 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 39 minutes.
Russia-born Chasteau, who now lives in – and represents – France, turned 19 in March.
She and her father were involved in a motorcycle accident which resulted in both losing their left legs.
Chasteau was the No 1 junior wheelchair tennis player in 2023 and won junior singles titles at the 2023 US Open and 2024 French Open.
Montjane was able to defeat Chasteau in three sets at Wimbledon this year, but Chasteau turned the tables at the US Open.
‘Really disappointing’
Post-match, Kgothatso Montjane shared her thoughts on her performance.
“Really disappointing you know. I feel like I could have been better. I had some good chances. I didn’t use my serve very well.
“I wasn’t playing the quality tennis I would like to play.
“Credit to her for taking advantage when I dropped the ball short.
“I had a disappointing start. Well done to her. To take the opportunities that came her way.”
Montjane, who rates Chasteau highly, added: “She’s an upcoming player. She has a solid backhand and a strong forehand.
“She used the court better than me. Credit to her. She played well.”
‘Won’t be an easy match’
Kgothatso Montjane has a semi-final wheelchair doubles match on Thursday alongside Japan’s Yui Kamiji.
Montjane and Kamiji will take on the doubles pairing of Diede de Groot (Netherlands) and Zhenzhen Zhu (China).
The latter duo knocked out the No 1 seeds of Manami Tanaka (Japan) and Aniek van Koot (Netherlands) so it won’t be an easy match.
However, on that upcoming clash, Montjane was upbeat.
“We’ll give it our best. We’ll keep trying to find our own chemistry as we know each other really well.
“It’s just another fight. We have to try and find a way to win points.
“They are a strong pairing. We have to come up ready to really fight for it.
“It’s not going to be an easy match, but we really want to win this one.”
Dave Marshall is reporting exclusively from the US Open in Flushing Meadows for The South African.
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