South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane wins Wimbledon wheelchair doubles title

FILE. Kgothatso Montjane and Yui Kamiji won the women’s wheelchair doubles final at Wimbledon on Sunday. Picture: Tetsu Joko / Yomiuri / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP)

FILE. Kgothatso Montjane and Yui Kamiji won the women’s wheelchair doubles final at Wimbledon on Sunday. Picture: Tetsu Joko / Yomiuri / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP)

Published Jul 14, 2024

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South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane and Japan’s Yui Kamiji won the women’s wheelchair doubles final at Wimbledon on Sunday.

Montjane and Kamiji beat Dutch women Diede de Groot and Jiske Griffioen in straight sets 6-4 6-4 to win the title.

It was one way traffic for Montjane and her partner as they served four aces to the zero of their opponents. The duo also won 69% of their first serve, while converting three of their eight break points.

Montjane and Kamiji began the clash slowly, before moving ahead 3-2 in the first set. That would be all the advantage they needed as they would tighten the screws to quickly close out the set 6-4.

Shift the momentum

In the second set, Montjane and Kamiji were down 2-1 in the early exchanges, but were quickly able to shift the momentum to forge a 4-2 lead.

It was a massive victory for the duo who fell at the final hurdle in 2023.

The 38-year-old Montjane is now a three-time Grand Slam doubles champion, to go with her run to the final of the Wimbledon singles women’s final in 2021.

Montjane’s previous Grand Slam victory came at the US Open last year, also partnering Kamiji. On that occasion, Montjane and Kamiji won the final without playing any tennis. Their opponent Griffieon was forced to withdraw due to injury, leaving her partner De Groot stranded and forced the Dutch pair to concede the title.

The result capped a spectacular year for Montjane and Kamiji after they also won the French Open women’s doubles title.

Later in the day Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic to the men’s singles title.