Montjane's exit in Australian Open a 'painful loss'

Wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane says her exit in the Australian Open Women’s Wheelchair singles hurts. Montjane lost to Netherlands’ Diede de Groot 6-1, 6-1 yesterday. 

Montjane crashed out of the first Grand Slam of the year unexpectedly as she hoped to go all the way for her first slam title and also considering the efforts she put in during preseason in the festive period.

Against De Groot, Montjane played with a strapping on her left elbow, hinting that she may have been playing with a niggling injury. 

Reflecting on her exit from the singles, Montjane said she was her own worst enemy as she made countless errors that allowed her opponent to ease past her. 

“Honestly, it was a devastating loss considering that when we look at the stats in the previous matches the numbers were close,” Montjane said. 

“It’s just how the match turned out to be. It was a disappointment for me looking at the errors I created, it’s like I beat myself when I was competing with a great opponent.

“I couldn’t allow myself to settle and that hurts, it’s just a painful loss. That’s how I learn, I just have to keep working and believing," she said. 

The 36-year-old quickly shifted her focus to the doubles. On Wednesday morning, Montjane and her partner from Japan, Manami Tanaka, went through to the last four today after defeating Japanese duo Shiori Funamizu and Saki Takamuro 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.  

Montjane and Tanaka will take on Yui Kamiji and Zhenzhen Zhu on Thursday, with the match scheduled for 2am. Meanwhile, SA's Donald Ramphadi will face no1 seed  Niels Vink in the Quad Wheelchair singles.