Tennis: African Junior Championships - No top-10 finish for Laporte, Andriamaro |27 March 2015

Damien Laporte and Shaun Andriamaro have failed to make the top-10 in Africa in their age groups.

Competing in the 38th African Junior Championships held at the Marsa Tennis Club in Tunis, Tunisia, the pair returned home earlier this week.
Laporte finished 13th and Andriamaro was ranked 30th out of 32 players in the singles category.

In the doubles, they beat Namibia 2-0 (6-3, 6-2) and then lost in the quarterfinals against Ivory Coast.

The competition was organised by the International tennis Federation and the Confederation of African Tennis.

French coach Frederic Canale has said he is quite satisfied with the results of the two players as they competed in the championship for the first time.
He noted that he expects them to be much better by January next year for the next championships.

In the boys’ under-14 final, Tunisian Soufiane El Mesbahi beat his compatriot Ismail Saadi 2-1 (6-4, 4-6, 6-2), while Sada Nahimana proved too strong for her compatriot Aisha Niyonkuru in the girls’ under-14 final to take home the trophy for the country in a two-set -- 6-3, 6-2 -- win.

The girls’ under-16 final was contested by two Egyptians and the winner was Laila Elnimr who overcame number one seed Dalila Said 2-1 (6-2, 5-7, 7-6).

Last year’s finalist South African Richard Thongoana took home the boys’ 16-and-under trophy by beating his compatriot Joshua Howard-Tripp in straight sets – 6-3 and 6-0.

The championships’ closing ceremony took place on the centre court in the presence of International Tennis Federation president Francesco Ricci Bitti, Tunisian Tennis Federation president Selma Mouelhi Guizani, president of the Confederation of African Tennis Tarak Cherif, ITF executive director Dave Miley and other distinguished guests.