It’s been a long time coming for South African wheelchair tennis ace Donald Ramphadi, who has been one of the most outstanding tennis players in recent years. On Wednesday, he finally reached his first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open Wheelchair Championships at Melbourne Park.

Ramphadi and his Brazilian partner, Ymanitu Silva, upset second seeds Andy Lapthorne of the United Kingdom and American David Wagner in straight sets (7-5, 6-3) in the first round of the four-pair doubles draw to reach the final. 

It was sweet revenge for Ramphadi, who lost to Lapthorne and Wagner in the 2022 Australian Open doubles semifinal.

Ramphadi and Silva will now compete in the championship final against top seeds Niels Vink and Sam Schröder from the Netherlands.

‘A lot of improvement’

“I’m very excited that in my second Australian Open I have reached the semifinals and the doubles final,” said the South African star.

“That shows a lot of improvement, and I would like to thank my team for pushing me every day to work hard and not give up. So I’m really grateful with the way things are right now, and hopefully I will have better results going forward.”

The 29-year-old Ramphadi made history by becoming the first male South African quad wheelchair player to reach the Australian Open doubles final since Lucas Sithole in 2016.

On Tuesday, the Limpopo-born star claimed his first Australian Open singles win, defeating Canada’s Robert Shaw 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. 

Ramphadi will now face Dutch top seed Niels Vink on Thursday, in a rematch of the 2022 US Open, which Vink won in straight sets.

If he wins that battle, he has an opportunity to face Wagner again who will compete in the other semifinal against second seed Sam Schröder.

Building momentum

Prior to this year’s tournament, Ramphadi had never advanced past the semifinals of a Grand Slam, but he has been in the form of his life since last season, rising to an all-time high of #5 in the world rankings.

“I’m very excited… I got to the Australian Open with merit this time around. Last year I was here, but I got a wildcard. This time around I qualified straight. It’s a great feeling and it shows progress,” he said.

Ramphadi is only the third South African player to contest a Grand Slam tournament. Sithole was the first and Kgothatso Montjane, the second. 

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In the women’s event, South Africa’s Montjane and her Japanese partner Manami Tanaka produced a brilliant performance, defeating Japanese pair Shiori Funamizu and Saki Takamuro in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) to advance to the doubles semifinals.

Montjane and Tanaka will on Thursday face off against second seed Yui Kamiji and Zhu Zhenzhen, who hail from Japan and China respectively.

Montjane’s singles campaign was cut short after she was defeated in the first round by Dutch top seed Diede de Groot in straight sets (6-1, 6-1) on Tuesday. DM