Squash | SA National Doubles Squash Championships

The Groenewalds ruled again and there was double delight for Eastern Province star Hayley Ward when the SA Nationals Doubles squash championships came to a thrilling conclusion at Country Club Johannesburg on Sunday.

The champions at the SA Nationals Doubles Squash Championships held at Country Club Johannesburg at the weekend were, from left, Luhann Groenewald and Dewald van Niekerk (men’s title), Damian Groenewald and Hayley Ward (mixed title) and Alexa Pienaar (women’s title, partnering Ward). Picture: Jeff Shulman

Groenewalds, Ward grab honours at SA doubles champs

Van Niekerk and Pienaar show their worth in the national finals

This time it was the younger Groenewald of the Pretoria brothers, Luhann, who grabbed his first senior national title in the men’s event, partnering SA No 1 Dewald van Niekerk (SA Country Districts) to victory over Christo Potgieter (Joburg Squash) and Dylan Niemack (SACD).

Despite failing to land a third straight men’s title, the older Damian Groenewald also took a trophy home when he and Ward outduelled the experienced pairing of Potgieter and Tenille van der Merwe (Western Province) in a superb mixed doubles final.

In the first final of the last day, Ward retained the women’s doubles crown as she and new partner Alexa Pienaar (SA Country Districts) quickly gelled into a formidable combination.

They came up against the young Northerns pairing of Helena Hudson and Jana Craig, who battled to find their rhythm, being put on the back foot from the outset, eventually going down 11-3 11-4.

It was third women’s title for Ward, who won previously with regular partner and provincial colleague Kacey-Leigh Dodd, now living overseas.

Even with a new partnership, Ward and Pienaar quickly showed their experience and skill in the doubles game, keeping the ball tight and forcing their opponents into a series of errors early on.

Ward used the lob intelligently and Pienaar capitalised on anything loose, which enabled them to jump out to 7-0 lead.

It was more of the same in the second game, with Ward demonstrating her attacking skills to set up another match-winning gap of 7-0.

Although Hudson and Craig kept pushing all the way, the gap was too big to overhaul and Ward and Pienaar finished it off in just 20 minutes.

Despite the incredible reflexes and speed of the game in the men’s title decider, the mixed final was arguably the match of the day as Potgieter and Van der Merwe gave it their all to land the trophy.

As Tenille Swartz, Van der Merwe, now 37, reached a top world ranking of 28 in 2008, so there was plenty of experience on the court as they faced the new generation of top SA players.

Much of the game was a contest between Ward and Van der Merwe down the forearm side of the court, but all four players showed supreme skill as they fought the battle for supremacy.

Eventually some attacking play by Ward and Groenewald forced an error which saw them advance to 10-8 before another mistake by Van der Merwe gave them the first game.

The second game saw Potgieter and Van der Merwe change their strategy and this enabled them to set up a crucial 5-1 lead.

Even then, Ward and Groenewald came scrambling back and the fightback was so effective that they stood on match point at 10-9, only to lose the next two points, taking the final into a decider.

In the third game, they regained control and some skilful shots from both players put them in the relatively comfortable position of leading 9-5. There was no letting down their guard this time and as they continued to force errors from their rivals with some sublime accuracy, they wrapped up the match 11-8 10-11 11-5.

The men’s final was another terrific contest, with the crucial difference being the leads Van Niekerk and Groenewald were able to build up in the early stages of each game.

A number of unforced errors by their opponents saw the eventual champs take a handy 5-2 cushion in the first game.

Showed great fighting qualities, mixed with some cracking winners, Potgieter and Niemack pushed all the way and almost achieved parity at 9-8 before Van Niekerk finally found the perfect length to win the game 11-9.

Another good start saw Van Niekerk and Groenewald take a telling 6-2 lead in the second game and in situation where the contestants were so evenly matched, it left Potgieter and Niemack a mountain to climb.

As the pressure mounted and they went for their shots, the champions were able to stand firm, soaking up everything which came their way to move to match point at 10-4 after Potgieter sportingly called one of his own drops down.

They duly finished off the match 11-9 11-4 after 30 minutes of high-octane action to conclude another outstanding national doubles tournament.