The Bloemfontein-born rising tennis star Philip Henning is on the onslaught at this year’s Curro Centre Court Series, which is already underway. He made an early impact, recording significant wins along with some of South Africa’s top players at the tournament ongoing at Curro Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal.
Henning dominates week one at South African’s Shine at Curro Centre Court Series. His relentless consistency paid dividends as the player claimed his fourth Curro Centre Court series singles title, headlining a dominant week for South African players. He recorded a 6 – 2, 5 – 7, and 6 – 1 victory over American Adhithya Ganesan and capped off a tournament where South Africans captured half the available titles, with over 45% of the draw representing the country.
“Philip has just had an unbelievable week, playing consistently at a very high level,” said Jared Temlett, project manager at Curro Sport.
“Many people are dubbing him as South Africa’s next star to move up onto the highest stage.”
After a tentative opening where both players struggled to find their rhythm, Henning found his straps to take the first set. Ganesan fired back in the second set, levelling the match at 7 – 5, but appeared to be struggling with a strain in his left glute and back area during the decider. Henning then raced through the final set with 6 – 1 to secure his second title at the venue, adding to his 2024 triumph at the same site.
Henning heads into week two of the competition ready to continue his dominance.
A grueling marathon saw Zimbabwe’s Valeria Bhunu prevail after three-hour in the women’s singles final against France’s Astrid Cirrotte. The versatile campaigner edged a first-set tiebreak of 7 – 3 before closing out the match with 6 – 3.
“The match was close to three hours long with lots of gruelling rallies,” noted Temlett.
“Astrid put up an unbelievable fight, but in the end, the experience of Valeria came through.”
The victory provided another Southern African success story at a tournament that continues as a happy hunting ground for regional talent.
The men’s doubles final delivered the day’s most compelling drama as the South African pair of Devin Badenhorst and Luc Koenig survived a three-set thriller against the Egyptian-South African pairing of Akram El Salally and Kholowam Montsi.
After dropping the opening set 7 – 5, Badenhorst and Koenig stormed back with a dominant 6 – 1 second set before edging the super tiebreak 10 – 8 in a nail-biting finish.
The women’s doubles saw a more straightforward affair, with Russian Polina Leykina and France’s Astrid Cirrotte combining for a convincing victory of 6 – 4 and 6 – 3 over Benin’s Glorianna Nahum and China’s Yichen Zhao.
The tournament’s international appeal was evident with players from across the globe descending on Curro Hillcrest, including representatives from America, multiple European nations, Asia, Australia, South America, and Nepal.
The champion results of week one are:
■ Men’s singles: Henning (South Africa).
■ Women’s singles: Bhunu (Zimbabwe).
■ Men’s doubles: Badenhorst and Koenig (South Africa).
■ Women’s doubles: Leykina (Russia) and Cirrotte (France).
